IKEA Pax wardrobe - with limited headroom

[SearchingforSleep]

We really want to get an IKEA Pax wardrobe with sliding doors. They do 2 different heights and we want to get the tallest one which is 2.364m high which just fits in our bedroom if we cut out the carpet underneath the wardrobe.

The assembly instructions say you need 2.44m room height to be able to build it on the ground and then lift it upright, or to build it upright if your room is less than 2.44m high (which ours is).

We are concerned that although we should be able to build the wardrobe frame upright, if the sliding doors have to be lifted onto their running rails that we won't have enough headroom. Has anyone built one of these IKEA wardrobes and can you remember whether you need extra height to lift the doors on?

Thanks very much

[donkir]

I have this wardrobe without sliding doors and you do need the extra room just to get the wardrobe from the laying down to upright position once built.

[PrincessOfChina]

You also need it to attach the doors. I'm sorry, but I think it's not an option.

[ouryve]

We had a similar problem, so got the slightly shorter ones, plus some nice boxes to put on top.

[honeysucklejasmine]

They are super easy to modify, so you would always chop them down a bit if you want a perfect fit. Although it won't be very pretty along the cut edge of course!

[honeysucklejasmine]

If i recall you need to lift the doors a few inches to hang them.

[nataliejayne1]

I have built a few of the ikea pax wardrobes for my mum. All with sliding doors. From what I can remember they just slot into runners and you don't need any room above. We actually had the smaller ones though

[SearchingforSleep]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Does sound as though the shorter one is the way forward... Thanks

[Ihatemytoes]

We have the pax 236cm pax with sliding doors. Ceiling height is 244cm. We were able to build them lying down and attach the doors with no problem.

[poocatcherchampion]

Sliding doors need headroom iirc

[MuscatBouschet]

Don't say that because we've got the same problem and want to risk it with the tall ones!

Watch this video on you tube. At about 2 mins they put on the sliding doors and it doesn't look like they lift them at all: m.youtube.com/watch?v=ihqgbtw0l8o

[ChaChaBoom]

We put some up, yes you need a bit of room to hang the doors on the rail, 2 inches max maybe? There are clips on the 'roof' that need securing too so you'll need space for your fingers to do that. Go to IKEA and have nose at the mechanism if you can.

[mirf]

Hi, hope it's not too late to join the discussion. We have a ceiling height of 240.4cm and we're really keen to get the 236cm high Pax wardrobe rather than having to go down in height to the 201cm one. However it says we need 244cm ceiling height. If we build it upright in situ, do you think the 4.4cm clearance will be enough for us to hang the sliding doors? We realise it'll be v tight! Many thanks!

[Hullabaloo31]

It's tight, but do-able. I can't remember what our ceiling height was but it's right on the limit. Get extra people to help lift the doors on though as you have very little room to manoeuvre!

[mirf]

Thanks Hullabaloo31. I Googled the sliding door hanging mechanism but there were no measurements on the pics or in the installation instructions (there's an image but no measurement) so I went into Ikea and measured the bit that hooks over. It's going to be super tight but I reckon it should hopefully just squeeze over so I've decided to go for it. The full height will look so much better (if we manage to get it in). Thanks!

[Hullabaloo31]

If the frame and the plastic clips on the top fit, the doors will def go on. You don't lift them any higher than the top of the frame. Getting the plastic clips in the top which hold the top rail was the limiting factor! You can put them in earlier but still need to raise them a bit to get the rail in once it's all up.

[Hullabaloo31]

Edited to add, I reckon we have 2cm clearance, absolute tops.

[mirf]

Great, thanks - that's a real help. Thanks v much for measuring your clearance - that's reassuring.

[mirf]

Thanks for the help. We managed to set up the wardrobe and lift the doors on without too much trouble, so it can definitely be done with a ceiling height of just over 240cm. It wasn't scraping the ceiling so I reckon you'd manage with 239-240cm.

[Wixxy]

Hi mirf,

Glad I saw your message. I am thinking of getting a PAX 236 cm with sliding door. Would it be possible to show a photo of the top of your wardrobe? Did you have to assemble the frame standing upright instead of on the floor?

[SomethingNastyInTheBallPool]

Ooh, a PAX thread! We took delivery of a 236-cm height sliding door one yesterday. How much floor space, approx, will we need for assembly? Am just wondering if we need to disassemble the bed...

[mirf]

Wixxy, sorry, no pic but I just measured it and there's 4.5cm clearance between the ceiling and the top of the wardrobe. Yes, we had to assemble it upright. If your floor to ceiling measurement is 239/240 I think it should fit.

SNITBP, sorry, I don't know. It'll be a case of laying the boxes on the floor and seeing if you have space. You'll def need quite a bit of space, to kneel down beside it etc and attach all the bits etc. Estimating you'd need a bit of floor 260cm x more than double the width of one of the boxes, at a minimum. If that sounds confusing, I think it will become clearer once you have had the boxes delivered. You will see how much space they take up, and you'll have bits side by side etc. Unless it's a huge room, dismantling the bed sounds like a good idea as you'll need space to lay out ideally a few boxes and all the bits to put them together. Hope that helps.

[mirf]

PS It took HOURS to put it all together (we ordered 350cm width of wardrobe units). I would definitely recommend paying for installation if they'll agree (they wouldn't install ours as it needed to be installed upright - if we'd built it on the floor, it wouldn't have cleared the ceiling when angled to stand it upright).

[SomethingNastyInTheBallPool]

Just seen this - thanks, Mirf!

In the end, we disassembled the bed and DP installed it upright. Ours is 200 x 236 and it took him almost two days! And he’s someone who uses tools for a living. (We did book an installation but TaskRabbit couldn’t get anyone to us soon enough. It would definitely have been more cost-effective to have someone else do it!)

[athsbang]

we built our 236cm high PAX with sliding doors, our ceiling is just 237.5cm high.

We had to build the wardrobe upright. Tip is to insert the sliding door plastic caps on the top before you fit the top panel.

With the limited head height, you won't be able to hang the doors from above. You'll need to slide it in from the end of the track.

Expect to have a few scruff marks on your painted ceiling - get some paint to touch up later.

Our ceiling is so tight, we are not able to stick the plastic dust cover on top, but no big deal for us.

After installation, we have about 3mm space clear and the wardrobe looks as good as built in!

:D

[uchi28j]

Hi Mirf, I’d like to try the same as you did. Could you please share how did you do it? Did you follow the instructions as if you had 2,44cm or did you have to change/fit other steps before others to get it in?

My ceiling is 2,40m and I would like to also buy the 2,36m!!

Thank you in advance