"gribblechips" wrote in message
...

"Dave Jones" wrote in message
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"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
I have fitted some shelves into an alcove between two chimneys. The
shelves
are approx 70 cm across and 30 cm deep. The shelving material is
combiboard
(sandwiched plywood) about 18mm thick. These rest on battens 2 cm x
4.5
cm
x
(depth/width) which are screwed to the wall on either side and at the
back
with nine screws (approx 5cms long) in total (3 x 3).

Would these shelves support a sustained weight of about 60 kg? Reason
I'm
asking is I want to put a 10 gallon fishtank on one of them and I
don't
want
it coming down for the obvious reasons. Any suggestions on reinforcing
them
if needed? Or would it be best to just put them on the floor, or
bottom
shelf (resting on a couple of bricks to reinforce) to raise it above
the
skirting?

Marcus



All I can suggest is to load the shelves with something of equivalent
weigh
for a test run (something unbreakable!)

and leave it for a week.

I think that it would be OK if the shelf is supported at the front as well
as the back and ends. I have put up a similar arrangement (18mm ply in an
alcove, fish tank on it) but the front is of the shelf is glued into a
rebate routed in a 2x2 so that they are flush on the top edge. and the ply
edge is hidden. This front support is fixed onto the end battens.

There is nothing to screw the front support on to, as the side batten
supports run right to the depth of the chimney. The batten at the back wall
is screwed to the back wall. It is fairly tough to flex the combiboard,
although I haven't yet tried it with 60 kg. I am also at a loss with what to
test the shelf with, I have about 40 kg of barbell weights, but not much
else, no cinder blocks handy.

Marcus