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How Kristi Linauer Prepared Plywood for Her Biggest Closet Build

Kristi Linauer’s closet prep involved 39 plywood pieces, extensive cutting, and extra surface work on underlayment-grade panels selected for painted cabinets.

By ThatPainter Team Published
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Kristi Linauer’s walk-in closet and laundry project began with a large plywood-preparation job—not cabinet assembly. In her March 17, 2025 post, she describes cutting, filling, sanding and moving the pieces into the room where the cabinets would be built. The account is useful to painters and DIYers because it shows a practical trade-off: she chose less expensive underlayment-grade plywood for cabinets she planned to paint, then expected to spend more time improving its surface before assembly.

What did the closet-preparation post cover?

Linauer’s post documents the setup and cutting stage of a walk-in closet and laundry combination. She had not assembled the cabinets yet. She called it the biggest build she had done, comparing it with a pantry project she described as about one-third the size. Those are her descriptions of her own projects, not standardized measurements of project size.

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The scale shows up in the material handling: Linauer reports that 39 pieces of plywood were delivered. The completed cabinet units would be too large to maneuver through the house, so she planned to assemble them inside the room. That made preparation especially important. Rather than cut and sand each component after assembly, she prepared the parts first and brought them into the work area.

Linauer’s original preparation post gives the project-specific counts and describes her approach. They are a record of this closet, not a ready-made cut list for another room.

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How did she cut the plywood?

Linauer used 3/4-inch plywood for the cabinet parts and 1/4-inch plywood for the backers. For the larger sheets, she placed the plywood on 1-inch solid foam insulation board and used a circular saw with a Kreg Rip-Cut Circular Saw Guide to rip pieces to 17 inches wide. The guide helped her make the long cuts; the foam board supported the sheet while she cut.

She reports cutting 42 pieces at 17 inches wide for shelves and dividers, and preparing 16 long pieces measuring 87.5 inches for cabinet sides. She used a miter saw for shorter top and bottom pieces. The backer cuts needed both length and width cuts. For those thin sheets, she chose the guide rather than feeding them through her table saw because she was concerned that wind could affect the feed.

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These details explain her workflow, but they should not be copied as dimensions for a different closet. Room width and height, cabinet layout, material thickness, construction details and the intended placement of shelves all affect a cut plan. Even the reported counts—42 shelf and divider pieces, 16 long sides and eight backers—belong to this particular design.

Why choose underlayment-grade plywood for painted cabinets?

Linauer chose less expensive underlayment-grade plywood because she intended to paint the cabinets rather than stain them. She notes that one face was sanded, but not as smoothly as cabinet-grade plywood, so she expected to do more filling and sanding. That is the key finish-related trade-off in this part of the project: a lower-cost panel can require additional surface preparation when the finished work will be painted.

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Her account does not provide prices, calculate savings or compare plywood products under controlled conditions. It therefore supports a practical observation about her choice, not a claim that underlayment is always the best or cheapest option. For a painted project, a buyer has to weigh the panel’s price and surface against the time and materials needed to prepare it. For a stained finish, the visible face and its appearance matter differently; Linauer’s stated reason for accepting the rougher face was that the cabinets would be painted.

She filled and sanded the plywood before carrying the pieces into the room. Doing that work on separate parts made sense within her plan to assemble the large units in place. It also meant that surface preparation was part of the build rather than a final cosmetic step. The post does not specify filler products, sanding grits, primer, paint, or a finishing schedule, so it should not be treated as a complete paint system.

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What else was prepared before assembly?

Alongside the cabinet plywood, Linauer reports cutting eight 1/4-inch plywood backers and 40 pieces of 2×4 stock to 2.75 inches for cabinet feet. Those quantities are specific to her cabinet plan. The post does not establish that another closet needs the same number of backers or feet.

Preparing and labeling parts before carrying them into the room can help keep a large in-place assembly organized, but the source does not describe a labeling system or provide a full layout plan. The supported point is simpler: she cut and finished many of the pieces ahead of assembly, then moved them into the space where the cabinets had to be built because the finished units would be too large to move through the house.

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What went wrong when assembly began?

The next day, in the first assembly installment, Linauer described building two units and finding that the backers had been sized incorrectly. Rather than replace all of them, she cut them narrower so they could sit inside the frames and added lumber strips to provide nailing support. That was her on-the-fly correction for this project, not a universal cabinet-building method.

She also describes checking the units for square, joining frame pieces with Spax #8, 1.5-inch cabinet screws, and attaching the feet made from 2×4 stock. Bowed plywood and an uneven floor made alignment and shimming necessary. Those details show why a neat stack of pre-cut parts does not guarantee a straightforward assembly: actual material shape and the conditions in the room still affect fitting.

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The backer error is a useful reminder to verify dimensions against the assembled frame before repeating a cut across every piece. Linauer’s account illustrates the consequence and her chosen fix, but does not establish that the same adjustment will work for a different cabinet design. Backers can have a structural or alignment role depending on construction, so a change should be evaluated in relation to the specific cabinet plan.

What can painters take from this project?

For painters, the most relevant part is the link between material choice and prep time. Linauer accepted a less-smooth plywood face because the cabinets would be painted, then filled and sanded the pieces before assembly. The choice shifts some of the work from buying a smoother surface to preparing the selected surface. Her post does not quantify that labor or say how the final paint finish turned out.

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  • Decide on the finish before choosing panels. Linauer’s reason for choosing underlayment-grade plywood was that she planned to paint, not stain.
  • Account for the surface you are buying. She expected more filling and sanding than she would with smoother cabinet-grade plywood.
  • Prepare parts in the sequence the room allows. Because the cabinets were too large to move through the house once assembled, she brought prepared pieces into the room and planned to build there.
  • Confirm the cut plan before making multiples. The follow-up shows that the backers were too wide for the frames as built, requiring a project-specific correction.

These are observations from one DIY project, not building-code guidance, a tested material comparison or a full cabinet-painting tutorial. The posts do not specify a primer or topcoat, nor do they report a measured durability or finish comparison.

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Which measurements are worth noting—and which should not be reused?

The useful figures are the ones that make the scale and workflow concrete: 39 pieces of plywood delivered; 42 pieces ripped to 17 inches for shelves and dividers; 16 long pieces at 87.5 inches; eight 1/4-inch backers; and 40 pieces of 2×4 cut to 2.75 inches for feet. Linauer reported those counts in 2025 for her design.

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They are not a generic closet plan. A different room or cabinet layout may call for different widths, lengths, support arrangements and quantities. Before cutting, a reader would need a plan based on their own measurements and materials. The source does not supply enough information to reproduce Linauer’s entire design from the listed counts alone.

What is the takeaway from the preparation stage?

Linauer’s closet project shows how much work can happen before the first cabinet is assembled: choosing panels for a painted finish, cutting a substantial number of parts, filling and sanding the surfaces, and moving the components into the room where the oversized units will be built. The next installment adds the less tidy reality of assembly, including an incorrectly sized backer, bowed plywood and an uneven floor.

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For readers interested in paint preparation, the clearest lesson is not that one plywood grade is right for every project. It is that the lower-cost material Linauer selected came with a rougher face and more anticipated filling and sanding. The best choice depends on the finish, the surface quality required and the preparation effort a project can accommodate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the closet already assembled in the preparation post?

No. The March 17, 2025 post covers cutting, filling, sanding and moving the components into the room. Linauer described the first assembly work in a follow-up posted the next day.

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Why did Linauer plan to build the cabinets inside the closet room?

She said the completed units would be too large to maneuver through the house. Bringing the prepared pieces into the room let her assemble them where they would be installed.

Did the posts provide a complete closet cut list or paint schedule?

No. The counts and dimensions describe Linauer’s project, and the posts do not give enough design information to reproduce the cabinets as a complete plan. They also do not specify primer, paint, sanding grits or a finishing schedule.

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