# Bad idea for shelves?



## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Not much info to go on to give much help. Post a pic when you get your post count up and you'll get much better direction. My first inclination is that "L-brackets" upside down is NOT going to give much holding power for the heavy weight of books. I mean, you can get great support going into the framing members of the wall, but the attachment to the shelf itself is going to be very weak in my opinion.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Shelf material not mentioned so putting a 1x2 wood cleat on the bottom of the shelf at each bracket location and attaching the bracket with proper length screws to accommodate the extra thickness would give plenty of support.

Go for 10" brackets.


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## abrowning (Jun 2, 2008)

It's unclear whether you intend to mount the shelf to the inside of the L-bracket or the outside. 

If it's the inside I don't think it will work because the brackets are braced on the inside and you wouldn't be able to push the shelf to the wall. 

If it's the outside then your shelf would be hanging by a couple of bolts per bracket which might not be safe under a load of books. If going this route I would suggest using large washers or pieces of aluminum bar stock under the shelf to prevent the bolt heads from pulling through the shelf. If your shelves are particle board I'd go with the bar stock. 

You can't use screws at all for the shelf to bracket connection. 

This kind of bracket has a pocket in it for the shelf so it avoids the problem all together:


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## jeffincali (Aug 10, 2017)

Update: Ok so i had originally planned to bolt the shelf with an underneath bar and washers to prevent ripout of the shelf itself. The shelf would be outside the bracket. Im not sure of the type of wood because the shelves have vinyl but i would guess its mdf or ply. I was also going to put the brackets into the studs only because ive never done wall anchors and im unsure of it with this project. Ive attached pics of the shelf, bracket, and a sketch of my concept.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Your wood is what we call K3 board, may have other names but it is just sawdust glued together. the brackets you have are made to support from below and that is what i would do. Maybe a couple over the closet but as well as washers I would also have s strip of plywood or aluminum or something that will spread the load. Then I would give that section of shelving the lightest duty.

Oops now I see you have a bar in the drawing.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Your idea pretty much works, but of course depends on how many books you want to put up there.

The nuts and bolts, and bottom bar are a good idea. 

Definitely you want to mount the brackets to the studs.

Capacity of the angle bracket will be decreased, because (where it mounts to the wall) where the bracket has one screw, you would rather have two. Make sure that top screw is nice and long.

Not sure how stiff that board is going to be. 

I still don't understand why you don't put the brackets on the bottom, but figure you have your reasons.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Complete over kill when light weight brackets are going to be screwed to the studs.


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## abrowning (Jun 2, 2008)

SeniorSitizen said:


> Complete over kill when light weight brackets are going to be screwed to the studs.




Weakest link and all that. It still needs bolts rather than screws for the shelf to bracket connection. With a screw you're only going to have 1/2" to 5/8" of thread at most engaged in the shelf and that's if you take a grinder to it to get rid of the point which has little holding power unless you're an expert at drilling tapered pilot holes. 

The diagonal brace in a bracket is under compression when mounted normally and would be under tension when mounted upside down. I don't know how those lightweight brackets would perform in those circumstances. You could mount one that way and tug on it with a hanging scale to see how much weight it takes it to deform. 

Overkill? Maybe. I tend to err on the side of overbuilding. I like things solid and I don't like having to rebuild later on.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Try pulling a #10 screw out of a piece of 1" nominal Oak screwed into a 3/32" anchor hole bored into the Oak 5/8" deep.


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## abrowning (Jun 2, 2008)

SeniorSitizen said:


> Try pulling a #10 screw out of a piece of 1" nominal Oak screwed into a 3/32" anchor hole bored into the Oak 5/8" deep.



He said it was particle board.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

abrowning said:


> He said it was particle board.


 Please re-evaluate reply #3. :wink2:


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## Mitaela Drayne (Aug 31, 2017)

I don't think that an L-Shape angle that you are thinking to incline in the direction up-side down. As it won't have the ability to hold the things for longer.


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