Removing old lockers?

[mrhat557]

Hi,

I'm new here, I was wondering if I might be able to get some advice.

I have several old metal lockers in my garage (the high school hallway style, tall and very narrow). When I first moved in the house, I thought they were pretty neat. After living with them for a couple of years though, I've decided the tall and narrow dimensions of them are really inefficient for how small the garage is to begin with, and I'd like to get rid of them and put in some more practical storage.

Like everything else in the house, they have 100 coats of paint on them, and I'm not exactly sure how they are attached garage wall. They almost appear to be recessed into the wall somehow. I assume the garage walls are concrete like everything else in the house (mid 50's ranch on a half-slab).

Can anyone give me any guidance as to how I could go about removing these? I can post some pictures if my descriptions aren't enough to go on.


Thanks in advance!

 

[goodspeed]

Where are you located? I'd like to have some lockers in my shop.

 

[tolken4]

Pics please.

 

[mrhat557]

Cincinnati, Oh

 

[mrhat557]

I posted some images, and it said awaiting approval by a moderator. I'll try to post them again tomorrow if they don't show up tonight.

 

[power wagon]

if you were a little closer i would take them out for you

 

[rburke65]

Well there has to be screws or something through their backs to attach them to the walls. The lockers weren't there when they poured the walls or when the place was. Hilt.

 

[mrhat557]

Not sure what happened when I tried to put the images in my post, but they never showed up after the moderator message. Heres some direct links on my web server to the pics I took:

http://www.willholman.com/random/TopLeft1.jpg

http://www.willholman.com/random/TopLeft2.jpg

http://www.willholman.com/random/TopLeft3.jpg


Thanks again

 

[mrhat557]

rburke65: thats what I figured too, I don't see any in the wall though.

hopefully my pics show up soon, just tried to post links to them again and got another message saying it needs to be approved by a moderator first.

 

[csp]

Did you look inside the lockers for screws that attach them to the wall?

 

[camarotoolman]

List them on CL, or scrap em. Scrap is price is up now.

 

[mrhat557]

csp: I didn't, can't believe I didn't think to check for that. I'll look after work tonight, thanks!

 

[mrhat557]

Well, the backs of the lockers go back further than my garage wall, like they are recessed into the wall a few inches. How is this even possible?

 

[Boiler]

Well, the backs of the lockers go back further than my garage wall, like they are recessed into the wall a few inches. How is this even possible?

100 coats of paint 1/64th thick? Good part of two inches

 

[csp]

Remove the lockers from the wall and it should be very obvious how they were recessed.

Maybe the wall was built around them. Maybe the wall used studs larger than 2x4. Maybe there's a large void behind the wall in the areas other than where the lockers stand. There are all kinds of possibilities. Unless you remove them all that anyone can do is speculate.

 

[mrhat557]

Well I decided to do it today, ended up being quite a project with the lockers being recessed in the wall. Had to do a fair amount of chiseling around the cement block wall, and now theres a hole in the wall thats about 5 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 3 inches deep.

Glad I got them out, wasn't originally planning on having to deal with that giant hole though. Any ideas on how I can fill that in?

 

[HoseB]

 

[bczygan]

Well I decided to do it today, ended up being quite a project with the lockers being recessed in the wall. Had to do a fair amount of chiseling around the cement block wall, and now theres a hole in the wall thats about 5 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 3 inches deep.

Glad I got them out, wasn't originally planning on having to deal with that giant hole though. Any ideas on how I can fill that in?

Put the lockers back in and fill the cracks where you chiseled...with cement.

 

[mrhat557]

hahah.

 

[mrhat557]

Fun stuff!

 

[crazytrain]

You could build some shelves in there. If you build shelves that are 1 foot wide they would only stick out 9 inches from the wall taking up less space in the garage.

Or put a few studs in the space and drywall it up. A little mud and tape on joints then sand and paint. It will look like it was never there.

 

[mrhat557]

You could build some shelves in there. If you build shelves that are 1 foot wide they would only stick out 9 inches from the wall taking up less space in the garage.

Or put a few studs in the space and drywall it up. A little mud and tape on joints then sand and paint. It will look like it was never there.

Thanks Crazytrain, I wasn't sure if I should fill it back with brick or block to keep everything in the wall same in case I wanted to anchor stuff into it in the future. I'll probably try the studs and drywall, that seems like it will be alot easier.

 

[mrhat557]

Turns out I was a little off on the dimensions too. 6' tall, 2' 7" wide, 3" deep.

 

[Fireball027]

Find a new cabinet that you like, with more/practical storage and expand the hole so it fits in the recessed area.. Takes care of 2 problems... the hole and the practical storage you want.

 

[mrhat557]

What about getting some 4x8 blocks and sealing them in somehow? Is that something I should look into?

 

[csp]

If the rest of the wall is drywall the easiest thing to close the hole would be to frame it out and drywall it, hands down. Be sure and use a pressure treated piece of lumber on the floor and install a sill sealer.

 

[mrhat557]

If the rest of the wall is drywall the easiest thing to close the hole would be to frame it out and drywall it, hands down. Be sure and use a pressure treated piece of lumber on the floor and install a sill sealer.

It's all cement block

 

[Richard D]

I'd go with shelves myself. Almost every inch of wall space in my garage is covered with shelves, cabinets, or stuff hanging.