Closet wall is bowed convexI have begun to install shelving in the closet of a bedroo

I have begun to install shelving in the closet of a bedroom that is being used as my computer, office, personal and what ever room.
I'm installing battens on the back and end walls to support the shelving.
The closet is 8' wide and will, in effect, be a walk-in cupboard.
Once you get above the outlets in the back wall of the closet, there is only 1 stud at the center of that back wall other than those at the corners.
Yeah, about 4' of unsupported sheet-rock on each side.
Between the corner on one side and the stud at the center of the wall, the sheet-rock bows out[in?], leaving a gap of about 3/8" between the shelving and the wall. The other side is reasonably flat.

Is there a quick-and-dirty way to draw the wall out so that it will be flush with the back edge of the shelving?

Welcome to the site. Is this an inside wall and how big are the battens?

nealtw said:

Welcome to the site. Is this an inside wall and how big are the battens?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome.
It is an interior wall between the bedroom closet and the utility room with an electrical panel and water heater on the other side. The breaker panel is mounted in the wall on the same side as the bowed portion in the closet.
The battens are 1 X 2's screwed to the sheet-rock using anchors where studs do not back up the screw locations.

One trick comes to mind is to cut a slot in the wall big enough to slide a 2x4 behind the drywall and screw into it thru the drywall. You would need about a 2" slot and and use a couple screws for handles to place and hold while placing other screws. fill the slots or hide them with larger battens

After thinking about this over night, I'm coming of the opinion that I may just fill the gaps on the back edge of the shelves with spackle.
What with the breaker panel right behind the wall's bowed portion, the potential for interference from electrical wiring inside the wall is high.
Plus, with the plumbing for the water heater inside that wall also, it's interior is more complex than I had originally thought.

Thank you for your suggestions nealtw.

Scibe and trim the back of the shelf to fit the wall??

3/8" is probably normal. Possibly if you do nothing the eye may not be drawn to this (nobody will see it unless you point it out).

Mostly, it affronts my sensibility of having done a good job. But, I'm not going to tear the wall out and rebuild it to fix it. Nor am I going to worry about it anymore. The shelves are in and the gap is still there.
As my galfriend said: "You're the only one that's ever going to see it, and only if you ever empty the shelves off, which you never will."
She's got a point.

Now, I can empty out all the boxes stored in the garage so that I can begin setting up to add a work area where they're sitting: work bench, shelving, drawers, cupboards, etc.

Well it certainly looks real nice from here, good job.

Well, if you finds that what you have bugs you, split the difference and make a 3/16" gap at each corner. Insert a tiny bit of shim material at each corner as well to the shelf sits tight to the shim. I don't think anyone would notice 3/16".

One of the nice things about getting older for me is I’m still as fussy as ever with my work but the slightly off things fade from memory faster and I tend to see my work just as others see it. Those little gaps used to drive me nuts or a deck board that just didn’t look right next to the one next to it at the time and a week later I can’t find it if I tried and I wonder why I spent 5 minutes thinking about it.

During Christmas we had my family over to the house we just remodeled. One hundred year old houses equal lots of shimming. My sister was sitting in the corner seat in the living room and from that seat you look across the room and into the kitchen thru a doorway. In the kitchen sits the built in island I made with a wood top. The floor had a little drop to it and when I mounted the top I threw my level on it and it was out a quarter inch over 80 inches so I added a shim on one end to bring it up to level for whatever reason. She pointed out that I needed to trim under the top as she could see a sliver of light from her seat to the island to the door behind. The island top has good overhang all the way around and there is nowhere in the kitchen this can be seen unless you sit on the floor. I first told her the gap was required for air exchange as I have a wine fridge in the middle. Others started asking what she was talking about, and I said you know you are right I should fix that and got up. She said well not now you could do it later. I said no its ok the fix won’t take that long. Everyone got quiet and I went over and pushed her chair to the left about 12 inches and said “How’s that look?” everyone got a good laugh, including her.

My girlfriends grandfather a retired builder worked with me almost every day on the house and when I would want to correct some minor issue he would roll his eyes. One day I was fussing over something and I said “We have to fix that everyone will notice.” He said well when they do here is what you say. “Where were you when we needed help and then you tell them if you don’t like it get the hell out of my house.” LOL 88 year old guys tend to think that way. Well after I moved her chair he was grinning ear to ear and came over later and said I like how you handled that Bud, that went over better than my way would have.

There is a rope-like material made of foam that provides a base for caulk for filling gaps like this. I used to crumple up newspaper but it usually finds a way to push through the caulk.

If you store small items you need a solid surface but if you store boxes you only need a framework with holes too small for the boxes to pass through.
And if you store dense items you need enough strength to prevent visible sagging.

A 1x2 laid flat is 8x weaker than a 1x2 put vertically as far as resisting bending for a given span.

Wuzzat? said:

There is a rope-like material made of foam that provides a base for caulk for filling gaps like this. I used to crumple up newspaper but it usually finds a way to push through the caulk.

If you store small items you need a solid surface but if you store boxes you only need a framework with holes too small for the boxes to pass through.
And if you store dense items you need enough strength to prevent visible sagging.

A 1x2 laid flat is 8x weaker than a 1x2 put vertically as far as resisting bending for a given span.

Click to expand...

It's called foam cord as in cord and caulk.:beer: