Adding shelves to a closet

[Steve Lewis]

Hi, I'm looking for some ideas about how to hang shelves in closets where the stud location is not optimal.

I have two closets (nooks really) that I want to add some shelves to. One is just over 3' wide, the other 2' 4". I was going to do a fairly simple job - cleats on the wall and painted plywood shelves. The problem I've run into is I don't know if the studs in the wall are in good enough places to attach the cleats to.

The larger closet has a single stud in the middle of the back wall, and one stud on each side (about 16" from the back). With only one stud in each wall, is the cleat likely to rotate around the nail, or will the shelf serve to 'lock' the cleats in place?

The smaller closet has two studs on the back wall, but no studs on the side walls that are within the depth of the shelves that I want. In this case, I thought about using metal standards on brackets on the back wall, but the two studs there are quite close together, about 6". I'm worried that the width between the studs won't give enough support.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Steve

[Robert Bonomi]

depends on what you're going to use the shelves for.

fair-size shelf-support "angle brackets", held to drywall with _hefty_ "molly bolts" will support a non-trivial load.

[J Pagona aka Y.B.]

1x2 wood ledgers will do fine. Screw them into the studs, and use 2 screw in drywall anchors at each end. If you want belt and suspenders, you can also glue them to the drywall with some Liquid Nails or latex caulk. David

remove the key to email me.

[Lawrence Wasserman]

Perhaps you could add some vertical supports, say 1X2s or 1X4s, attached to the wall, fromm floor to ceiling inside the closets, and attach the cleats to these?

[ThJester99]

Thats what i did, i live in an apartment and didnt want to make anything permanent, so i cut four 2x2s to about an inch below the ceiling, and screwd bits of 2x2 as cleats on one edge(you could use two for more heavy duty), i then measure the width and depth of the closet, cut a MDF square and notched the corners for the two bys and then just laid the MDF shelf in, watch out for squareness, if the closet isnt square youll have to cut some clearance around the edge of the MDF shelf. i used about an 1/8 all the way around. Jesse M

[dave martin]

From a geometry standpoint, three points is all you need to define a plane. It is sufficient to securely anchor the shelf at each of the three studs.

Cleats may help you distribute loads, etc., but all you really ultimately rely on are three stud supports; If you've four or more studs, only three of them carry the load (at least until one loading point fails).

If the shelf might rotate because too much load is placed on it'd front, it'd help to put cleats both above & below the shelf. This is sufficient from a physics standpoint.

[Luigi Zanasi]

On 10 Sep 2003 00:05:11 GMT, [e-mail] (J Pagona aka Y.B.) scribbled

Second that motion. I have used plain old plastic anchors in drywall successfully to hold up shelves and a lot of other things. Screw the screws in the cleats so they protrude slightly; position the cleat; tap it with a hammer to mark the drywall; drill the hole for the anchor if you're anal, if not, use a 3" nail to punch the hole (don't aks me how many "pennies" amount to 3" is, I'm from Kanuckistan); tap in the anchor and screw in your cleat. Voilà.

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address