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David Nebenzahl David Nebenzahl is offline
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Default Floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookcase materials

On 11/21/2010 11:41 PM Robert Green spake thus:

"The Henchman" wrote in message
...

Tight budget, and I'm a novice diy'er.

My wife wants my to build a wall to wall bookcase that is floor to
ceiling. There will actually be 3 sections because we want the end
sections to have workstation or desks. These units will be fastened
to the wall. My wife and her family suggested I make everything out
of MDF which is cheep, easy to treat and easy to buy decorative
faces and mouldings for.


Nyet!!!! It will be a sagging mess before long. MDF doesn't have the
strength of even simple pine shelving and you will hate yourself for using
it.


Ackshooly, it *might* work--if you reinforce the shelves, say with
aluminum or steel angle stock underneath. I've done this, and it works.
Don't know, however, if this would still fit within the "tight budget"
parameter, or whether it would make things worse esthetically. The
bottoms of shelves aren't visible until they're above eye level.

Solid wood would definitely be preferable, but would be more expensive.
Didn't someone else suggest plywood? With solid-wood facing, it would be
strong enough and look good.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)