What wood to create shelves in built-in wardrobe?

pinkteapot

Never bought wood before.

We have built in wardrobes in two bedrooms which have a shelf with a hanging rail underneath. Pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55127243@N04/6021564837/in/photostream

The shelf is simple - three wooden battens on the sides and back wall of the wardrobe, then a bit of what looks like painted ply resting on top.

We don't use the hanging space in these and I want to add a couple of shelves in each. I'll do it the same way - battens on three sides and square of ply sat on top, so they could just be lifted out to revert to hanging space.

Questions:

1) What thickness of ply should I get for the shelves? Each shelf will be around 80cm square and supported underneath on three sides.

2) What planks should I get for the battens?

3) Dumb question - how do I attach the battens to the walls? I had thought just screws and rawl plugs. However, the battens will obviously be an inch or so thick and so the screw won't go all the way into the rawl plug. Do I just buy extra long screws?

Jonesya

1) I'd go for 18mm as a minimum, good and thick so shouldn't sag to much even with something heavy sat in the middle. If you went for less than that you might need to edge it with timber to reinforce it.

Doesn't have to be ply - you could go for MDF, either way the edges will need priming and sanding and couple of times to get a smooth finish.

2) Planed, square edged softwood (PSE), say 18-20mm thick, as wide as the existing if you want it to match. Look for professional grade or redwood, bit harder than the standard 'white wood' pine.

3) What are the walls made of?

loracan1

I'd just go for contiboard for the shelves or do you want wood for the aesthetic effect?

pinkteapot

To be honest, as long as there's no rough edges I don't really care what it looks like! It's just for storage and I'll probably paint what I put in white to match what's in there already...

Thanks for the tips - I'll take a look at them in Wickes. If I stand there gormlessly looking at sheets of wood for a while I'm sure someone will ask if I need help; benefit of being female.

Bearing in mind I only have a handsaw, what's easiest to cut?

p.s. Walls are plasterboard so I always use plasterboard plugs (what I meant really when I said rawl plugs).

I was lying earlier - just measured properly and the shelves will be 55cm x 60cm. They won't be used to store anything too heavy - no books or anything.

squiggles

I have these type of shelves in my spare cupboard to create extra storage space as I did not want to faff around with saws and drills, two minute job.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8755450/Trail/searchtext%3EWHITE+SHELVES.htm

capeverde

pinkteapot wrote: »

To be honest, as long as there's no rough edges I don't really care what it looks like! It's just for storage and I'll probably paint what I put in white to match what's in there already...

Thanks for the tips - I'll take a look at them in Wickes. If I stand there gormlessly looking at sheets of wood for a while I'm sure someone will ask if I need help; benefit of being female.

Bearing in mind I only have a handsaw, what's easiest to cut?

p.s. Walls are plasterboard so I always use plasterboard plugs (what I meant really when I said rawl plugs).

I was lying earlier - just measured properly and the shelves will be 55cm x 60cm. They won't be used to store anything too heavy - no books or anything.

Just as well use mdf. I know a lot of superstores like B&Q will cut it to size for you. Be careful if you cut it inside yourself as the dust isnt great. 18mm thick will suffice. Some 2"x1" batten around and particularly under the front edge will finish the job.

leveller2911

If you do use 18mm MDF make sure you seal/paint it as MDF is basically wood dust compressed and glued.The glue is Formaldehyde based so as long as you seal/paint it theres nothing to worry about.

pinkteapot

Thanks for all the advice. So far today I've been to Wickes, cut out shelves and done undercoat on one side of them, and put up and undercoated battens.

I got some planks of planed softwood for the battens. I got them level on the wall and held them in place with a couple of nails. Then I drilled through the batten and wall in one, pulled the batten off, put in rawl plugs then replaced it and screwed it into place. They feel pretty solid.

I used MDF for the shelves but after the comments above and the warning sticker on the sheet I did buy a dust mask rated for cutting it, and I did the sawing in the garden.

I will admit I used 12mm MDF as they didn't have any 18mm in a sheet size that I could fit in the car. The existing shelf and the floor are strong. The additional two shelves will be for more light-weight use. If they do start to sag in the future then I'll replace them with thicker board.

MDF is easy to cut - even for someone with no arm muscles.

Just one thing - I am hoping that applying undercoat thickly to the edges and then gloss paint afterwards will be sufficient to seal it....

Ebe_Scrooge

Hi,

I've just come across this post, and realise I may be a bit late, but .....

If the walls are plasterboard and you're screwing into the plasterboard, even with the special rawlplugs the shelf is only going to be a strong as the plasterboard itself. This is OK for lightweight applications, but much better is to locate the timberwork behind the plasterboard, then screw directly into the timber studs using appropriately-sized wood screws. This will give a very strong fixing that will happily hold a shelf full of books.

To locate the studs, a simple stud-detector will set you back about a tenner, and is well worth it if you'll be doing more plasterboard work. Alternatively, use the old-fashioned method of poking a needle through the plasterboard to feel where the studs are. Helpful Hint : studs are *generally* 2 foot apart, which can help guide you when you've found the first one. But this is not a hard-and-fast rule, and they will be spaced differently around doors, windows, etc. - and maybe in cupboards like your situation !

Anyhow, hope this helps.