Cost of custom bookshelves

PlanHappy

I'm thinking of getting some bookshelves built on the mezzanine level of our staircase so that I can finally scrap the mangy old Argos bookcases in the dining room! The wall is about 2m wide and probably 3-3.5m high (there's a step in the middle); it's an external wall, so I guess brick. The shelves should be wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling (so maybe 6-8 levels in total), and with dividers/supports at random-ish intervals along each level to make it look vaguely asymmetric. Completely open, no back, no doors/drawers, no (visible) brackets.

A 2012 Which? article is very optimistically telling me that eight 2m-wide shelves in an alcove should cost between £180-380 including materials and labour, but even doubling that for the passage of time and the almost certainly higher dimensions of our wall space seems suspiciously cheap - and I don't know whether MDF is appropriate as we would want them to be capable of being pretty much fully laden with books (maybe the odd ornament here or there).

Any joiners/carpenters able to give me an idea of how much this might cost? Area is South East (but not in or even particularly close to London).

Alternatively, anyone think this might be a simple enough DIY job and have any tips? Neither of us have a great deal of DIY experience (though I'm a dab hand with a paintbrush) but we are both young, healthy and can follow even the most frustrating flat-pack furniture assembly instructions. And if those credentials are a bit dubious, we do have some friends who are excellent at DIY but we haven't gone to them in the first instance in the fear of imposing slightly too much on them; we would just enlist their help if we were confident that we could do a large part of it ourselves.

saverbuyer

I got a could of alcove bookshelves made recently. One side with something like 5 shelves and cupboards at the bottom. The other with 3 shelves and a square for the TV. Cupboards on the bottom with a bit of detailing and cornicing at the top where it meets the ceiling. Sprayed white, moisture resistant MDF. Cost around £2000 fitted.


Admittedly that's NI and not London but at least it's an idea.


I know there are some guides out there on adapting Ikea shelves for alcoves. Maybe worth a google.


Pretty much like these


http://www.davidgoodenoughwoodcraft.com/blog/page/2

PlanHappy

Thanks! I thought about IKEA but most people seem to be adapting things like BILLY/HEMNES bookcases with some added trim to look built-in. The problems with that for us are two-fold:
a) the wall goes across two staircase steps so the floor is at two different levels - makes it difficult to adapt anything that would stand on the floor without having to do something to boost the base on the lower step first
b) height - the fact that the wall in question is halfway up the staircase means that the ceiling is much higher than in a normal room, so we would need to carry out an advanced hack and cut some more bookcases in half to go on top.

It wouldn't have quite the look I'd prefer either (i.e. asymmetric) but that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Still worth considering if a proper built-in is out of our grasp.

Thanks for the info about your project - gives me an idea of price.

TheCyclingProgrammer

We've got floating shelves and cupboards in our chimney breast alcoves. I built the cupboards myself but didn't have time to do the shelves so I got a local carpenter who had done various jobs for us to make them. Three in each alcove, floating-style (no visible supports) constructed from a timber frame and MDF skin (which I then sanded and painted myself), cost me just under £500 including materials.

I think you'll find for what you're after, made by a joiner or carpenter, would be £1k minimum without painting. An MDF skinned shelf will support books just fine as long as its constructed properly - torsion box design fixed to the wall on all three sides with an additional front support and cross supports running along the shelf and probably 6-12mm MDF skin top, bottom and front - the strength comes from the framework rather than the MDF itself although the thinner the MDF the small the span between cross supports.

You could probably also have a joiner make the entire unit off-site with it primed and painted and ready to fit in situ but then you'd probably want to double the price above.

The Which quote is ridiculous.

ldm84

We got 8 shelves built by a joiner into our alcoves - four on each side. Fantastic finish and very solid MDF box style fitting. Cost £400. This was 10 months ago in the north west

dominoman

I've been quoted 1200-1400 for alcove cupboards and shelves. Based on what you're describing I'd have thought it should be around 800 -1000 max, at outer London prices.