On 16 Nov 2003 14:24:34 GMT, otforme (Charlie Self)
wrote:

Mark Jerde asks:


In my home office I have 3 sets of 3 eight foot bookshelves attached to the
wall studs with 2" drywall screws. The shelves are chocked full of mainly
computer programming books, dunno, maybe 1000 lbs on each set of the 3
shelves. They've been up for several years. Any reason I should be
worried? (I don't recall for sure, but I probably drilled a hole for most
of the length before putting in the screws.)

Half a ton? Books are heavy, but that's still a lot of books. If the screws
haven't sheared off by now, I'd forget it. I think. Then again, I might run in
some other type of steel screws just to be safe.

Hope you're not in earthquake country.

Earthquake would be my biggest worry. The additional jarring might
easily start a chain reaction of breaking screws. I've used drywall
screws to hold cabinet parts together then later torn them apart. You
can easily tell the difference in strength between the drywall screws
and "regular" screws. Even the cheap deck screws from the Borg have
much better shear strength than good drywall screws.

Oh, half a ton of books isn't much. Get out a scale and start
figuring. A set of encyclopedias can easily run 150-200 lbs.

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com