(Ian Dodd) writes:

Nick queried:

Hi,

Many of the FLW houses have built-in shelves that from the pictures, do not
seem to have much in the way of support. I remember reading a magazine
article a while ago that described one way to build them - the shelves were
built like torsion boxes with the rear part hollow. The upper and lower
layers of the torsion box slipped over a horizontal batten that was bolted
to the wall. The shelf was then nailed or screwed onto the batten.

[...]


Basically what I did was get 3/4" x 1/4" flat steel stock at the
hardware store. From the back side I drilled and countersunk holes
every 4-5" for 3/8" X 4" flathead screws. From the front side I
drilled and countersunk holes to screw the steeI batten to studs in
the wall. I drilled holes corresponding to the screws into the back
of the shelf. Then I routed a 3/4" X 1/4" groove on the back of the
shelf (the shelf itself is 1 1/4" thick) for the steel stock to hide
in. The steel batten is screwed to the wall and the shelf is slipped
on to the protruding 3/8" screws.

Wouldn't it be much simpler (and as stable) just to drill some deep
holes into the shelf (from the back face that goes to the wall), put
some threaded rods into plugs in the wall (or in a non-stone wall
screw them into studs) and just push the shelf onto the threaded rods,
with maybe a very small wedge to keep it fixed
--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23