General Category > General Discussion
Shelving Suggestions?
Ozzy_98:
If you worry about the shelves not being strong, that's easy to fix:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-ST12-16-Gauge-12-in-Strap-Tie-ST12/100375152
Screw one on the back of the shelf near the middle, there's no way for it to bow. If you completely overload the shelf, it'll rip out before it bows with one of these straps on. And I've stored 3 bags of lead shot on a cheap walmart partial board shelf for a week to see what it would do, and it was fine. You can get them larger, and if you mount it so the extra metal is higher than the shelf, when you slam a book into the back you get a nice solid *THUNK* sound. Even solid wood shelves will need support on solid runs, so if you don't have supports from below, these ties are great if you can keep them hidden. Our basement is covered in homebuilt shelves and he was one of the ones who had the impression solid wood doesn't sag, so he ended up crippling in supports that didn't match the existing lumber. Won't be fun trying to get everything matched up when I get around to that portion of the house fixup. I'm a firm believer in metal connectors for structure.
And if you worry about a cheap shelf being wobbly, http://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-Satin-Brass-Flat-Corner-Braces-4-Pack-15071/202034207
I used a setup like that for storing my D&D manuals. Thin, hardcover books, they weigh more than think hardcover books since there's more cover. I used cheap shelves from walmart that looked good, and put 2 boxes together into one giant 8' shelf at our old house, with tiers in the shelves because they were too deep for paperbacks. Build a total of 6 of them for under $400. Worked great, stored about 3,000 books on them all. When we moved to the new house, the ceilings were too small (Old house was 8' 4") and removing that extra 4" made a mess of the shelves, so we're just going to order about $1500 of billys (That includes delivery fee of like $400) and I'll modify them like I did the old shelves to get more room for paperbacks.
The problem with building is while it's easy if you have a saw, all straight cuts, no funny math, getting a GOOD finish can be a pain. I HATE unfinished shelves that look like raw wood, or slightly stained wood.
MisterDaSausage:
Ozzy, what thickness is that simpson tie? Cause from what i saw, 16-gauge steel is normally 1/16" which i don't find thick enough to resist bending, unless there is some other size or it was hardened. (It might resist, don't quote me on that, just going off personal preference and *steel experience*)
*edit* Nevermind the thickness, just saw there was some 12-gauge tie, which i would personally use since its closer to 1/8" thick.
And yea, if you don't have tools and are not somewhat of a manual person, don't build the shelf. Cause most of the time you will encounter weird stuff in your house, nothing will be straight and perfect. So you have to improvise a bit.
As for myself though, i love raw wood color :) So the painting didn't actually cause a problem, just put a clear on the pine, so it is kind of glossy. If you are not close enough, you wont even notice the clear i put on. But, you have to like raw wood though hehe
larryinc64:
I may go the custom building route. Ether made by myself or maybe go to a custom builder.
What would I need t make a custom adjustable shelf like this?
I was thinking I can go to Home Depo and get the wood cut and I assemble it at home.
The Atlantic 1080 shelf I was looking at may be a good thing to fix up instead of building from scratch, but the shelf also has this issue:
Beastman1975:
you dont have to stain or paint wood to make it look nice i actually like the look of unfinished wood plus buildingh your own means you can make sure shelves are spaced out for any odd ball items like sega cd/saturn games in thier long boxes
TDIRunner:
--- Quote from: Beastman1975 on August 09, 2014, 09:11:13 PM ---you dont have to stain or paint wood to make it look nice i actually like the look of unfinished wood plus buildingh your own means you can make sure shelves are spaced out for any odd ball items like sega cd/saturn games in thier long boxes
--- End quote ---
Don't forget 3DO long boxes.... I mean loooooooooong boxes. ::)