I'd like to hang a lightweight (12mm MDF, possibly) shelf in a narrow alcove with no fixings visible. Sinking short rods into the end walls and routing cutouts in the underside of the shelf to fit over the protruding ends seems like an obvious method but is there a specially-designed fixing to accomplish the same thing? Like a screw with its head the same diameter as the shank, maybe, which could be driven into a wallplug?
Many thanks.
Well, I should have looked around more fully: I couldn't find anything at Screwfix or Toolstation, but a wider search has thrown up a few fittings along the sort of lines I was imagining. Some of them are surprisingly pricey though, and in retrospect the need to get the fixing holes dead level and exactly spaced is a slight concern, given the quality of the walls I'd be drilling into. Maybe I would be better off with slightly oversized holes and cut lengths of rodding embedded in Gripfix or similar to allow a bit of adjustment.
Have you considered using grub screws with allen key heads? Whilst these are not *normally* used in plastic wallplugs, if you picked the right size and type of plug, and long enough screws it should work OK.
Alternatively use normal quicksilver screws and take the heads off with an angle grinder or dremel. You can always remove them subsequently if you need to with a mole wrench.
Have a look at Ikea's "Lack" shelves. You screw a steel plate to the wall, with a couple (or more for longer) steel bars coming forward into the room. The shelf then slides over those, and small screws go in from underneath to secure it. Very solid - we had some in the old office, and they survived being utterly laden with big heavy books etc.
Hafele have the answer to this if you have access to them. They include a method of adjusting the shelf for level. Very handy
Thanks for the replies. Newshound, grub screws is an interesting idea. As is beheading ordinary screws, but alas I don't possess either a Dremel or an angle grinder (how on earth have I managed all these years?)
Adrian, I already have something similar to the IKEA shelves elsewhere in the house and they're very good. But the new shelves are not only too small and light for wall-plate fixings like that, they have to be supported at the ends rather than along one long edge.
seemingly for 24mm thickness shelves rather than 12mm.
Is it just me or do all the images on their pages look like optical illusions? Not helped by being shot from different angles
If the O/P really is OK with lightweight, then perhaps run 6mm high batten round the sides and rear of the alcove, and rebate 6mm underneath the sides and rear of the shelf so it sits on the battens? But you'll have a pretty small area of half-thickness shelf taking all the weight.
Fred, I've looked at the Häfele range in the past, but thanks for the reminder.
Andy that's a neat idea, but 6mm battening is pretty small for drilling and screwing into a wall,. isn't it?
That's why I questioned /how/ lightweight you could get away with, pinning the batten into drilled dowels, or no-more-nails?
Andy,
I have wondered about simply sticking battens to the walls, maybe chasing out the plaster first. If I could do that neatly enough, it would create small ledges for the battening to sit on.
Junior hacksaw, then
A DIY options would be:
Probably a bit tricky in 12mm though...
I've seen kits in a well known shed...
You don't happen to know if they can be cut down to size - 100cm x 20cm in my case?
A bodge (maybe) that might work would be if you lined the inside of the alcove walls with carefully cut pieces of, say 6mm ply, the first pair reaching from the bottom of the alcove up to the underside of the first shelf; it'd sit on the 6mm thick top edge of each side piece. You could continue the process upward, though would have to line the wall above the top shelf as well, so as to disguise the fact that you had lined the walls.
One big advantage is that you'd not have to drill very accurately into iffy side walls, and you could take your time & care making the side linings so that they were exactly the required size.
They're 110x26 out-the-box. You could easily trim 30mm off each of the sides, if you weren't bothered about the foil on the ends. Depth would involve trimming the ends of the metal shafts as well as the shelf, and re-drilling the fixing holes, but shouldn't be the end of the world.
For a tenner, it's gotta be worth a look?
Aye, indeed - thanks!
Thanks for that: it's a clever idea, if a touch OTT for my present needs. I might well be able to use it in the future, though.
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