shelf weight limit stud wall?

hotcookie101

We want to put some shelves up in our dining room, its a stud wall.

I want to get something like this but their Q&A states

Q:- Can your shelves be used on stud walls?

A:- Sorry the wall must be a solid wall, that is brick or block construction and plastered.

Are they just being cautious? Is there any reason I couldn't use them on a stud wall? Will I not be able to put any decent shelves on there? I need them to hold a fair amount of weight as I would like to use them to hold my cookbooks (well, some of them, as I have LOADS!:rotfl:)

Thanks in advance

System

as long as you use the correct fixings you should be fine, if you can make sure you hit the timber stud you can get a really good fixing - i've just hung a 42" telly on a timber stud wall, i won't try to sue the mount providers if it goes wrong tho!

Ebe_Scrooge

As above - make sure you screw directly into the timber and you'll be fine. I wouldn't trust anything that's screwed into the plasterboard, even with the fancy special fixings, it's only as strong as the plasterboard itself. But get directly into the studs and you're well away.

Oh, and a stud detector is not expensive, and a very worthwhile investment if you have a lot of stud walls in your house. I got a basic one that just detects studs ( not one of the more expensive ones that detect pipes, wires, etc. ) It cost about a tenner and works perfectly.

googler

We just had a joiner custom build bookshelves for cookbooks in our kitchen - built from 18mm pine, about 2m high by 0.6m wide, divided into 10 compartments - quite a heavy piece

The joiner rested it on the tops of the skirtings, and put around 16 screws into the timber studwork, through the back of the bookcase, and through the plasterboard.

It's not moving anytime soon. To demonstrate this, the joiner grabbed the top shelf and pulled, effectively hanging his body weight from it.

If wooden studs behind plasterboard support that combination, I'm sure it'll be fine for what look like single shelves on that link you gave.

hotcookie101

Thank you all.
I presume I dont use rawl plugs into the timber? Just long wood screws?

googler

hotcookie101 wrote: »

Thank you all.
I presume I dont use rawl plugs into the timber? Just long wood screws?

Yes, long woodscrews. They'll go through the plasterboard like a hot knife through butter, and will get their grip from the timber.

I think our joiner was using 3 or 3.5 inch ones - they had a 15mm or 18mm plywood backboard to go through, then the 15mm plasterboard, then the timber.