How far in from the wall do the first brackets go when hanging closet rod?

Question

I need to add closet rods to a very unusual shaped closet. I'm awaiting exact measurements, but what I have is: Door Width 31", Trim around each side of door inside of closet 2", Depth of closet from door to back wall 5-6'. This is a narrow deep closet.

I want to hang and upper and lower bar. I plan to put the upper rod wall to wall, with the rod being above the door - of course not all space can be used unless the door is taken off. The second rod, assuming the cavity is really only 5', will only be 24" to allow for the door to sweep back to the right - across from the poles.

I can get a metal 8' 1 1/4 " diameter pole and cut the first 24" off for the lower rod. The upper rod will be cut from the remaining 6'.

I plan to use heavy duty shelf and rod supports to provide support at each end and the middle if necessary. I could instead (or also) use closet pole sockets on 3 of the ends on the two poles. Do those work best, or the brackets, and if brackets - how far in from the end of the rods does one start placing brackets?

I've seen recommendations saying to place the brackets every 18", but that feels excessive for these lengths. I'm thinking about 2 for the lower bar and perhaps 3 on the upper bar, but don't know how far from the ends to start.

What is the correct approach?

Answer 1

Usually 2-feet is the minimal depth or 1-foot on either side of the rod, more is better even if it's just an inch or 2. In your case you can do an upper & lower rod at both the front & the back of the closet, without any need for center supports.

However, no rods nor sockets nor anything should be just screwed in anywhere. They have to be screwed into the wall's framing studs. You probably won't find studs where you want to have the rods.

So, what needs to happen first is that full depth of the closet wood slats or slating need to be screwed to the walls at the stud locations. These slats or slating now become your nailers or screwers & only into these will you put any rod or socket screws to then have the rods wherever you want them.

Answer 2

Ideally, you want the same weight on each of the brackets with the rod fully loaded and the weight distributed randomly/evenly across the rod. 1/4 of the way in from each end ought to do that; weight on one side will balance weight on the other side.

In practice, unless you're putting huge amounts of weight on this or running especially long lengths, most closet rod is stiff enough that two supports pretty much anywhere, including at the ends, will work just fine. The rods in my closets span about 6' supported only at the ends, and haven't complained yet. It's just clothes storage, not gymnastic equipment; it doesn't have to be over-engineered.