Putting in alcove shelving - but can't use all 3 sides?

The_Governor

hello all,

I'm after a bit of advice/guidance.

I want to make better use of our alcove in a spare room, ordinarily I know you'd use three baton around the alcove and put a shelf on top.

The problem is the internal wall on the left hand side backs onto our en-suite shower so I'm very reluctant to drill into it as the pipes will be directly behind where I need to put fixings.

Is there any way I can use only the back wall and the right hand side of the alcove yet still have the same strength of shelving? I need to put books on it so it'd need to be able to take a decent amount of weight.

I've been puzzling over it the last few minutes but nothing springs to mind easily, anyone had to do anything like this before?

I'm assuming that I will have to drill into the internal wall, having never used it, I don't suspect something like No More Nails will be up to the job of holding the baton along the inside wall when it has heavy books on it?

jblack_2

If it's a plasterboard wall you can use a screwdriver to carefully make a hole for the fixing and locate an pipes. No need to use a drill.

J

The_Governor

jblack wrote: »

If it's a plasterboard wall you can use a screwdriver to carefully make a hole for the fixing and locate an pipes. No need to use a drill.

J

Hmm I'll give that some though... I have a lot of holes to make in that wall though and my wife can spot a shelf that's not level from 600 yards so I'd be a bit worried about the accuracy (or lack of!) of the hole.

Worth thinking about though thanks... I still don't like the idea of going into the cavity where all that pipework is!

I was considering drilling big holes in it to see inside and then filling them in afterward...

wallbash

Ignore the left side wall . use a shelf bracket off of rear wall !

put better :rolleyes: if you were to put up a shelf , and the left wall did not exist .

Peartree

In my sitting room I have got long 'floating shelves' (I think that it what they are called) trimmed at each end to fit neatly in the alcove. They are LACK shelves from IKEA with a 'concealed mounting'. This is quite a substantial metal fitting which goes on the back wall of the alcove and has 'arms' that slot into the shelf removing the need for batons at the sides and you don't have ugly shelf brackets under the shelves.

The come into a range of finishes but I've used a melamine primer and painted them to match the walls.

hotcookie101

I have the lack shelves and they are great, sitting in the alcoves, just attached to rear wall. Only problem is the laminate is pretty poor, we have had to arrange our 8 shelves to hide the damaged parts (IKEA delivery-exterior box fine but damaged (minor in most cases, some are above head height so can't see anything) inside, and couldn't be bothered to send back)

The_Governor

Thanks for the tips all, I suspect the LACK shelves won't be up to the job though.

I calculated that if each shelf is 1 metre long it would have to be able to take a weight of up to 180 kg!!

These books tend to be comicbook trade paperbacks so the paper stock is good and they tend be fairly weighty (imagine a shelf of atlases and you get the idea).

This has pushed me back toward finding a bookcase type assembly, but not one of the compressed wood type, more like a solid wood construction, so if you have any tips on where to get something like that for a reasonable price I'm all ears!

I imagine I'll try to buy two 500mm units rather than one 1000mm unit so as to reduce the sagging of the shelves.

27col

Are you sure about the 180kg(396lbs per metre).I know books can be heavy, but that does seem a bit excessive. Anyway, if you are in any doubt, get free standing book shelves as already suggested. I have had book shelves collapse and its not only unpleasant, but could be dangerous. A final word, if your free standing units are very high, fix them to the wall at the top to avoid any risk of instability.

The_Governor

Oops yep you're right, my wife reminded me there's 2.2 lbs in a kg not the other way around!

So it's actually 40 kg per shelf! lol!

Doozergirl

You can buy a gizmo in Argos for a tenner that will locate pipes in the wall for you so you can just place your fixings away from them.