Hi all,

I've been tasked with fitting some bookcases into a room in our new house.
In order to make the most of the available space, it has been decreed that
they are to be built in.

The room is in a (probably) Victorian extension to a much older house, and
according to the surveyor has solid walls. It had some suspiciously high
damp readings during the survey too, but there doesn't seem to be much sign
of damp other than that. The room is quite cold, though - a combination of
slightly tired central heating and the complete lack of insulation in the
walls, I expect.

I'm hoping to gain some insulation value from the books themselves - a few
inches of tightly packed paper should do some good, right?

I'd like some advice about the general form of the bookcases. They're going
to be in some kind of veneered man-made board with real wood trimming the
edges. Probably. I haven't done the detail design yet!

A few options have occured to me; should I -

Attach the vertical sides of the shelves directly to the walls so that the
back of the bookcases is the wall itself?

Have a wooden back on the bookcases right up against the wall?

Have a wooden back to the cases with a ventilated air gap behind it so that
any damp that accumulates can get out - although this will presumably negate
the insulating effect of the books? Should the air gap be non-ventilated,
then?

Have a gap behind the bookcases filled with polystyrene foam - in which
case, how much foam would make a worthwhile difference?

Have a ventilated gap and some foam, in which case should the foam be inside
or outside the air gap?

Insert plastic sheeting anywhere into the above schemes?

Any advice gratefully appreciated!

Thanks,

Rich.


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