Shelf support suggestions please

Hi I want to put up a large-ish bookshelf, along the following 'pigeonhole' design. I want to make it from maple-effect contiboard to match other furniture in the room. Whole assembly will be about 5 foot square, with 9" shelves and struts, 12" separation (don't need to be adjustable). Will need to support fairly heavy files & books etc.

I know contiboard isn't the ideal solution for this, but it will look and work fine for me provided there's enough support - which is my question. What's my best option for fixing to the wall? My thought was that the bottom shelf wants to be mounted as firmly as possible, using large angle brackets directly below the vertical separators; then I could get away with much smaller mounts for the upper shelves since much of the weight would be borne by the vertical separators.

I'd like the (visible) supports for the upper shelves to be as unobtrusive as possible - any suggestions please? (ISTR this may have been covered in this NG a few months back but I'm darned if I can track it down!)

Thanks David

_______________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _______________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _______________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ________________________________________ (not at all to scale)

Reply to
David
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Does it have to be fixed to the wall ? Or could you get away with a free standing floor unit ?

What my concerns are, are that any weight on brackets must be borne by the whole width of the shelf. Because of this, you'd need cantilever style brackets to spread the weight downward across the wall bearer.

This sort of shape: ________ | / | / | / | / | /

Reply to
BigWallop

Lawrence

usenet at lklyne dt co dt uk

Reply to
Lawrence

I've built bookshelves all over our house (we have several thousand books) to a standard design using pine shelving and 10mm dowelling as the vertical supports. The oldest have been up for five years or so now and show no signs of failing. To use contiboard shelving you'll need more dowelling verticals but that should be all.

People always ask "is that dowelling strong enough to carry the weight" but as it's just in compression it really isn't an issue. Visitors are often impressed by the apparent fragility and lightness of the construction.

I have a pair of dowels at about 60-70cm intervals, one a couple of cm from the front of the shelf and one a couple of cm from the back. Most of the shelves run right down to floor level and for these I have a bottom shelf that actually rests on the floor and has blind holes to support the dowels so the weight of the books rests on the floor. A fairly lightweight fixing to the wall is then all that's needed to prevent the whole lot tipping forwards. The shelves are simply screwed to the dowels, I don't find visible screws obtrusive but you could cover them if you wanted.

For shelves which are supported wholly by the wall I've taken different approaches according to the situation. On one I've fixed the bottom shelf firmly with triangular wooden supports underneath, on another I have effectively hung it from the ceiling.

Reply to
usenet

Thanks very much for all the replies. Yes, the above is how I'd envisaged my setup working...

You just lost me there...! how do you mean, the shelves are screwed to the dowels?

Thanks David

Reply to
David

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