Don't you just hate it when that happens?

[Lobster]

Had a day off yesterday and being a fine day decided to use it to finally clear out and sort out the garage (well, I use the term loosely

- 'general storage building' might be more appropriate.

Several years ago I acquired a large quantity of that 'Spur' style shelving

free when a big refurb took place at my office - was quite pleased, as that stuff is very expensive; and I thought it would be ideal for the garage. So finally the tuit got rounded, and yesterday I bit the bullet.

First, I checked that all the supports I had actually fitted the brackets... I'm well aware that there are numerous versions of this stuff around, and it ain't compatible. Imagine how stupid I'd feel if I put up all the brackets and then found the supports didn't fit - Hah! - not me, no sir (well OK, BTDTGTTS...)

I screwed brackets to the wall right down the length of the garage, floor to ceiling; and given that (a) there would likely be some substantial weight going in them and (b) I had an effectively unlimited supply, I put them up on 15" centres: in other words - a fair amount of work was involved.

Feeking very pleased with myself for having finally put these things up, I started the final step; clipping in the brackets. But wait - what's this? they don't fit properly!

?????!!!!????

Turns out that the brackets and supports are indeed of different brands. My supports need brackets just slightly deeper than the ones I have, to permit the lugs on the supports to engage and rotate into position (they worked fine when not screwed to the wall, of course, and I didn't spot the potential problem.

Not insurmountable, but my options are either to attach the supports to the brackets and *then* screw to the wall (rendering them non-adjustable) or to take an angle-grinder to the back of all 60-odd supports, so they will fit and 'rotate' properly. Either way a PITA, especially as I didn't get the job finished as a result and had to throw everything back in the garage to be removed again at the weekend (when it will be raining no doubt...) :-(

David

[Tim Streater]

Can the brackets be offset from the wall perhaps? Longer screws with a fat thingy like a pile of pennies with a hole drilled through them?

Errm, what's the adjustability about? (sorry, I can't picture this).

Beeb weather indicates a high around until at least the w/e = no rain.

[TheScullster]

"Lobster" wrote

Option 3

Remove the brackets and put some packers/washers behind (at the fixing points) to space them off the wall enough to allow supports to engage and rotate.

Phil

[Lobster]

Hmm, that's a good thought - a penny washer beneath the bracket at each screw point would generate enough clearance. (Wonder if it would compromise strength a bit not having the brackets firmly held against the wall along their length?)

Just meant the losing ability to alter the support positions after I've screwed te brackets to the wall - sod's law says that after I've finished the job and have loaded up the shelves that it turns out tha shelf separation is 5mm too narrow to store XYZ widget and needs moving

Thanks, but I can assure you that the probability of rain will be entirely dependent on whether I empty my garage or not...

David

[michael adams]

If both the uprights and brackets are from the same source, then they must have fitted together originally, and without too much messing around.

I've mix and matched a number of different makes and got all of them to fit o.k. eventually. Its often a selling point with the "cheaper" brands that they're all compatible with Spur, the brand leader.

Try wriggling them about a bit more as there's sometimes a knack in getting different brands to fit together. Some of them need a bit of forcing as the angle in the bracket is a bit tight. Once in place its getting them out again that can be a problem.

michael adams

...

>

[michael adams]

That would probably be unwise. Spur and similar shelving works on a cantilever principle where the weight on the shelves is transferred to the uprights and thus to the wall which are in close contact with the wall throughout their whole length - allowing for imperfections in the wall anyway. In effect the uprights are pressing against the wall. If the whole load is instead taken by the screws at the fixing points then there'd probably a danger of collapse.

michael adams

...

[John Weston]

I've also reused some of these Spur shelving fixings (Steel-lok - the aluminium ones don't take much load and are harder to re-use) and I don't understand your "rotate" fixing. My shelf brackets hook on using the top two fixings into the upright's slots at the shelf bottom height, then, if necessary, tap downwards, engaging the hook, until the bottom two lugs go into suitable slots lower down the upright. If you're reusing the uprights, then they might have been screwed in too tightly, causing the "U" shape to flatten resulting in insufficient room for the hook to go down the back. The solution is to slacken the wall screws near the bracket, fit the bracket in the desired place then tighten the screws. If you need to move the shelf later, you need to slacken the screw before trying to get the bracket off (lift the bracket upwards to disengage the lower lugs before tapping the fitting hooks off.

If the fittings have been subject to heavy load, then the hooks may be distorted, making the fixing problem worse.

Alternatively, pack out the uprights so there is room behind the "U" fixing to accommodate the bracket hooks. Mine are on plaster, so any problem fixing was addressed by pushing the fitting into the soft plaster behind the uprights

[Phil L]

They're supposed to be like this, the uprights need packing of the wall, my advice would bee to affix battens horizontally at 18in centres, then affix the uprights to these, drilling through wood and brick using a masonary bit

[F Murtz]

You could pack it off the wall with a vertical batten with a shallow slot sawn or routed along its length.

[Weatherlawyer]

Just unscrew them about 1/8th which is all you need to grind off the top corner of the brackets to get them in and out at will.

Slacken the uprights fit the brackets. Check the shelves are going to be wide enough then do the whole lot.

It's only a problem if you have fixed them on plasterboard with those snail shell fixings. But you should never fix shelving to plasterboard. The ideal in such situations is the use of a backing board between the studding under the plasterboard.

If you do have such a situation as might arise with a modern build:

You might try firing blobs of adhesive into the area that you will be inserting screws using an old mastic tube if that has happened. It's a major catastrophe that dot and dbbing can be done by NE or A Handiman if they just happen to be on site at the time.

But the way things are going, now the east Europeans have gone home, is that almost all tradesment these days will be poorly trained.

[John Rumm]

Yup had the problem in the past - you can force em on a plasterboard wall, but nothing harder.

Its fairly easy to give the ends of them a quick lick on a bench grinder.

[Jim K]

I agree - IME the failure mode of this when normally fixed is in the brackets where they enter and lock into the uprights - grossly overloaded shelf but (late one night) the ends that slotted into the uprights "tore" and actually made a dent in the upright as the end of the bracket came up and out and over and down - closely following the contents onto the floor..luckilly twas the bottom shelf....

if there were gaps behind the uprights then presumably they would be able to bend and flex before/during failure - tho the OP has them every 15" it's difficult to imagine what he'd have to put on the shelves to get them all to fail....

Cheers Jim K