To fix a small shelf to a plastic (?) conservatory frame. Swmbo wants something like a 100mm deep shelf running around the walls of her conservatory. About 600mm up from the ground. Putting something like this on legs might look very strange.
I understand the plastic frame has a steel inner frame. Would fixing to this be necessary?
She only wants to set small pot plants and small ornaments on it. Nothing very heavy.
Many thanks for any and all help
I fixed some additional latches for UPVC doors recently, they came with sma ll hollow wall anchors which required a 7mm hole drilling through into the tubular steel support. SImilar to these metal ones but if I remember rightl y they did not have the spikes under the top edge.
You could also use anchor nuts but will have to invest in a setting tool.
Richard
That's probably a bit OTT! uPVC frames take woodscrews or self-tapping screws fairly well - certainly for lightish loads. If there's a steel lining, you'll need self-tapping screws.
Drill one or two small pilot holes somewhere where they won't show, to determine the construction. Then screw on a shelf bracket and try to pull it off. You'll probably find that it's quite firmly attached.
[My conservatory has some quite heavy curtains, and the brackets for the curtain rails are simply screwed to the plastic framing.]
mall hollow wall anchors which required a 7mm hole drilling through into th e tubular steel support. SImilar to these metal ones but if I remember righ tly they did not have the spikes under the top edge.
Interesting. I take it the steel sub structure on these is very close to th e plastic outer so it would have to drilled into in any case. IME those fix ings are best used with a metal bracket. I was hoping to cut some ogee shap ed supports from 18mm wood and fix them to the conservatory uprights. I su ppose I could rout key hole shaped slots in the back of them and then hook them over one of these types of fixings. Or tap a machine thread into the s teel or even use a self tapper. With an ogee shaped bracket there is going to be one long fixing at the top though I suppose I could go for a deep cou nter bore.
Decisions, decisions.
I don't know about conservatories, but with uPVC windows/doors the steel (or in some cases just recycled uPVC) reinforcement bars are only used on frames above a certain size - perhaps for conservatories the load of the roof dictates they're always used?
For a rear door into my garage, I used a full height 70mm uPVC bay-window post to give me a better fixing position for the frame, it had aluminium reinforcement inside, but did a very good job of neatening up an awkward job, nice and firm.
The spikes are designed to dig into the relatively soft surface of plasterboard, to stop the whole thing rotating. They wouldn't dig into uPCV, so you'd have to remove or flatten them. There would then be nothing to stop them rotating during fitting, so you'd *have* to use the proper setting tool rather than just relying on tightening the screw to do the business.
I put shelves in a mate's aluminium conservatory and, knowing that his manager would overload it, used legs that started about an inch back from the edge and sloped in to the base frame. Not as obtrusive or exposed as vertical legs, limited strength, but made a hell of a difference to the load-bearing.
oh for a dwarf wall! ;>)
Jim K
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