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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

I want to fix some shelving to plasterboard walls. Internal walls in a
modern house.
The shelving I want to use is the adjustable type - strips of metal into
which brackets are slotted.
The shelves will hold books, paper etc. some quite heavy.

According to the stud detector i've used, the studs behind the plasterboard
are in totally the wrong places to screw the metal strips to - that is if
the weight is going to be distributed evenly.

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3
shelves).

I thank you in anticipation.


Terry W.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

The message
from "Terry W." contains these words:

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them.


Personally I wouldn't. You could hang them from the ceiling with wires
into eyes in the joists, or carry the load down to the floor with struts
- but bookshelves and plasterboard don't really mix.

--
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Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls


"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Terry W." contains these words:

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to
hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them.


Personally I wouldn't. You could hang them from the ceiling with wires
into eyes in the joists, or carry the load down to the floor with struts
- but bookshelves and plasterboard don't really mix.



Seconded.

Buy an older house. Failing that, use free standing book shelves.

Why anyone buys an new house nowadays beats the hell out of me! Oh well,
each to their own i suppose.

Steve


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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

"R.P.McMurphy" wrote in
:


"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Terry W." contains these
words:

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need
to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can
put on them.


Personally I wouldn't. You could hang them from the ceiling with
wires into eyes in the joists, or carry the load down to the floor
with struts - but bookshelves and plasterboard don't really mix.



Seconded.

Buy an older house. Failing that, use free standing book shelves.

Why anyone buys an new house nowadays beats the hell out of me! Oh
well, each to their own i suppose.

Steve




Thank you for your advice.

Buying a new (older) house is going further than I want to, just to have
some shelves in a room.

A big thank you to the the first reply - that sort of advice is
invaluable to a non-techie like myself. Much appreciated.

Terry W.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

Terry W. wrote:
I want to fix some shelving to plasterboard walls. Internal walls in
a modern house.
The shelving I want to use is the adjustable type - strips of metal
into which brackets are slotted.
The shelves will hold books, paper etc. some quite heavy.

According to the stud detector i've used, the studs behind the
plasterboard are in totally the wrong places to screw the metal
strips to - that is if the weight is going to be distributed evenly.

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to
hold the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i
can put on them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one
set of 4' (3 shelves).

I thank you in anticipation.


Terry W.


As the others have said, you cannot get a good enough fixing on PB for
anything substantial.
You CAN get good fixings on the studs, providing you use good screws etc and
are careful that they are driven squarely in (in the centre of each stud to
avoid splitting)
As far as measurements of shelving etc go, these are dictated by the
studding - IE, if the studs are at 16 inch centres, the length of your
shelves have to be multiples of this, 16, 32, 48 etc, otherwise they will
sag at the ends.




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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

The message
from "R.P.McMurphy" contains these words:

Why anyone buys an new house nowadays beats the hell out of me!


You just get used to transferring loads down to the floor. It's not hard
- just different. Most of the shelves and things here are done with MDF
vertical panels sitting on a plinth (with webs in the plinth to carry
the load through to the floor) and glued to the wall along the back
edge. Once a couple of shelves are in each column it all stiffens up
nicely.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

The message
from "R.P.McMurphy" contains these words:

Failing that, use free standing book shelves.


You could try this...
http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pa...lving_Unit.ar3

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3
shelves).




I know the general advice so far is don't, but my last house was all
plasterboard and these walls held 5 feet central heating radiators with no
problem, which are a hell of a weight when full of water.

Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some weight
by the time the dishes etc are in them.

Both heaters and units were attached using these hollow wall anchors
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...03851&id=11143

Is this the kind of shelving you plan to use where you just insert the
brackets into these uprights?
http://www.screwfix.com/sfd/i/cat/74/p1381474_x.jpg

If so then personally I would have no problems in attaching these to
plasterboard using the hollow wall anchors.




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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls


Steven Campbell wrote:
Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3 shelves).


I know the general advice so far is don't, but my last house was all
plasterboard and these walls held 5 feet central heating radiators with no
problem, which are a hell of a weight when full of water.

Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some weight
by the time the dishes etc are in them.

Both heaters and units were attached using these hollow wall anchors
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...03851&id=11143

Is this the kind of shelving you plan to use where you just insert the
brackets into these uprights?
http://www.screwfix.com/sfd/i/cat/74/p1381474_x.jpg

If so then personally I would have no problems in attaching these to
plasterboard using the hollow wall anchors.


With a new build the kitchen will be catered for by the architect
demanding that patresses ply boards be built into the walls before the
plasterbaord goes on. The fitters then just screw into the ply.

Failing that the fitters will have to put boards up on the studding,
over the plaster and screw to them.

And that is what you must do. Buy some soffit or something and fix them
to the studs at the heights that you want to set the brackets ot=r the
screws in the stanchions.

Depending on their make and section, there will be countersunk screw
holes every 6 to 18 inches. ou don't need a screw in each one. 3 or
four decent x10's will take the weight.So you will only need 3 or 4
horizontal strips of soffit or batton behind them.

I'd space them so that your shelving can rest on them, thus adding
support whilst being hid to some extent. You will need to notch out the
shelving to get it past the stanchions (uprights.)

With such a support you can use fewer brackets. With fewer brackets you
need fewer stanchions. That will thus save you money or allow you to
erect more shelving elsewhere. Either way you are on a winner.

If the studs are jumbo tins, then you will have to use gripfill on the
battons, to help take the load. Jumbo studding is absolute crap and
should be banned. If you miss the studwork, the plasterboard will come
off them and they are held together (or rather apart) by the
plasterboard.

They are an accident waiting to happen.

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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

Terry W. wrote:

According to the stud detector i've used, the studs behind the plasterboard
are in totally the wrong places to screw the metal strips to - that is if
the weight is going to be distributed evenly.


You could cut out a section of plasterboard and stick battens across the
wall screwed to the studs, with the uprights then screwed to the battens.

Failing that if you must use the PB directly use a decent fixing like:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...11143&ts=11371

and take the uprights right down to the floor if possible.

Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on
them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3
shelves).


With long uprights, most of the load on the PB is in shear and not
tension. Hence the hollow wall anchors ought to work quite well. I have
hung rads from these without any problem in the past.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/


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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls


"Weatherlawyer" wrote in message
ups.com...

Steven Campbell wrote:
Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to
hold
the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put
on
them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3
shelves).


I know the general advice so far is don't, but my last house was all
plasterboard and these walls held 5 feet central heating radiators with
no
problem, which are a hell of a weight when full of water.

Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some
weight
by the time the dishes etc are in them.

Both heaters and units were attached using these hollow wall anchors
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...03851&id=11143

Is this the kind of shelving you plan to use where you just insert the
brackets into these uprights?
http://www.screwfix.com/sfd/i/cat/74/p1381474_x.jpg

If so then personally I would have no problems in attaching these to
plasterboard using the hollow wall anchors.


With a new build the kitchen will be catered for by the architect
demanding that patresses ply boards be built into the walls before the
plasterbaord goes on. The fitters then just screw into the ply.


Sorry I should have added that our kitchen is in an extension that wasn't
originally designed as a kitchen. The units are directly attached to the
plasterboard via the hollow fixings. And like I said, are rock solid.



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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls


Steven Campbell wrote:
I know the general advice so far is don't, but my last house was all
plasterboard and these walls held 5 feet central heating radiators with
no problem, which are a hell of a weight when full of water.


They will have used patresses or found the studding.

Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some
weight by the time the dishes etc are in them.


The base units might be fixed to the wall but a lot of the rigidity is
from the worktop and their interconnection.

The top units might have a batton behind them in the recess designed
for them or the fitter may have screwed though into the brickwork.

Sorry I should have added that our kitchen is in an extension that wasn't
originally designed as a kitchen. The units are directly attached to the
plasterboard via the hollow fixings. And like I said, are rock solid.


Either way you were lucky. I have no doubt the tiles are now taking
some of the weight of the top cabinets. If you -or anyone reading, do
ever get a problem with them, just gripfill and screw a baton under
them.

You might take them down and put a baton behind. There is usually just
enough room for a PAR 2 x 1 to fit between the sides behind the
hardboard backing.

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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls


Phil L wrote:
Snip
Terry W.


As the others have said, you cannot get a good enough fixing on PB for
anything substantial.
You CAN get good fixings on the studs, providing you use good screws etc and
are careful that they are driven squarely in (in the centre of each stud to
avoid splitting)
As far as measurements of shelving etc go, these are dictated by the
studding - IE, if the studs are at 16 inch centres, the length of your
shelves have to be multiples of this, 16, 32, 48 etc, otherwise they will
sag at the ends.


Nonsense! Fixing onto plasterboard takes a lot more care and planning
than brick, but it can be done, even for heavy loads like rads,
cupboards, cooker hoods etc. Planning the fixing so that as many
fittings go into studs makes things easier as you say, but it's not
essential, and sods law dictates that the place you *really want to
hang the stuff* doesn't comply with position of the studs.

The type of shelving that the op is proposing should actually be
pretty easy, as the modular shelving rails usually allow fitting into
the walls at several points, spreading the load, and the long length of
the vertical rails minimises the moment force that would normally be
trying to pull the shelf support out of the wall. If you want to
absolutely maximise the load ability of the shelves you could leave
rails as long as possible so you can have more fixings into the p/b, or
even have the rails go to the skirting, although I doubt that is really
needed.

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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

In article ,
Steven Campbell wrote:
Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some
weight by the time the dishes etc are in them.


I'd be most surprised if they are indeed just fixed to the plasterboard.
Did you put them up yourself?

--
*Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Steven Campbell wrote:
Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to
plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some
weight by the time the dishes etc are in them.


I'd be most surprised if they are indeed just fixed to the plasterboard.
Did you put them up yourself?



I did yes.
It was at a time I didn't have a clue about any type of fittings and good
old B&Q directed me towards toggles for hollow walls.
I was a bit dubious at the time but have certainly been impressed with how
well the fixings have held the cabinets and that is without tiles below them
to help the support.
However the kitchen is due to be changed very shortly and no doubt I will do
it by the "preferred" method.

Steven.







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Default Fixing Shelves to Plasterboard Walls

Huge wrote:

Many years ago, I sat next to an entire wall of computer manuals held
up with plasterboard fixings. I was a bit dubious when the man came
to do them, but they stayed up. Fortunately.


Orange or grey? ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/
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