Alcove floating shelving

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We want floating shelving in alcoves either side of a chimney breast and had a carpenter round. They quoted over £200 per shelf supplied and fitted. Around 50mm thick and not solid wood. Got another guy coming round to give another quote.
So would be around £1300 for the 6 shelves which, even if that's the going rate, is not worth it to me.
Found a few places that sell kits where you give the front and back dimensions of the alcoves in the relevant places (I'm aware that alcoves can be wonkey) and they're cut to size with battens and fixings supplied and minimal adjustments hopefully. These were around £70-80 each.

I'm not in the position to knock up each shelf from scratch.

Just after thoughts on the kits really to see if they actually look gash or not or if there are other options.

Ta
 
If my house purchase ever goes through I will be doing the same.

At those prices I'll buy/borrow some tools and make em myself though! Cutting some wood to size ain't rocket science.
 
Floating shelves that fit in a alcove (that are fitted wall to wall) are actually pretty tricky to do. Scribing something to 3 walls for a perfect fit is tricky, and even in a reasonably new house the walls won't be perfect and you might find each shelf needs to be cut differently.

Dave
 
Assuming that price is fully fitted down to the caulk and paint then I don’t think it is actually that bad. Getting floating alcove shelves to fit well is not straightforward particularly as very few houses are actually square particularly if the property is older.

Shop around though when we had some
Alcove cupboards and shelves fitted the range of prices was massive some were very cheap but you had to wander what you were actually getting! We went with a long standing local chap who was above average cost but not in the ridiculous range of some and we landed up with perfectly fitted shelves and cupboards that you could sit on without them falling down!
 
divuk83 said:
Floating shelves that fit in a alcove (that are fitted wall to wall) are actually pretty tricky to do. Scribing something to 3 walls for a perfect fit is tricky, and even in a reasonably new house the walls won't be perfect and you might find each shelf needs to be cut differently.

Dave
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It's probably more time consuming than tricky. The guys that fit bespoke shelving will bit able to make a perfect fit much quicker than the normal DIY'er. So you're paying in part for their experience and being able to have the shelves fitted in probably a day, whereas it might take you several days to DIY them.

If you've got time on your hands, and would certainly prefer not to shell out £1300, then i would DIY them. But all depends on your DIY skills.
 
I've done it a few times without too much tooling.

A bit of mild steel right angle cut to length to support the sides and back (turn it so its an L to hide it behind the shelf - you will need to carve a small gap out of the shelves fo the screw heads.) - drilling can be a pain so get a decent drill bit.

Most timber suppliers will cut to length for a small cost - especially if you find a local one then sand / rasp to fit if needs be - simple, if a little time consuming.
 
If you were looking to DIY it then I would recommend using a sliding bevel, if the walls are out by a couple of degrees each side then it can give you the exact angle. I put some alcove shelves in and our house is quite old, the walls weren't 90 degrees and this helped get a tight fit.
 
It's a fiddly job that's easy to get wrong so it's unlikely you'll get many joiners jumping at the chance to do it; therefore the quotes will reflect this.

Appreciate you said you're not in a position to do it but it'd pain me to spend over a grand on something I could knock up for £100-£200 in materials.
 
When i did it at the old house, it was just some batons on the walls with a mid section, with MDF sheets on the top and bottom, then sanded and painted. It wasn't a perfect job, but then as long as you're painting them a bit of caulk will hide any sins :D
 
I've just had 4 alcoves done with shelves and cabinets £2000 obviously made to order and hides all the TV gear etc, our house is from the 1890s so despite being skimmed walls they aren't perfect and I'm really happy with what the joiner has gone.
 
Marvt74 said:
When i did it at the old house, it was just some batons on the walls with a mid section, with MDF sheets on the top and bottom, then sanded and painted. It wasn't a perfect job, but then as long as you're painting them a bit of caulk will hide any sins :D
Click to expand...

I did the same! One of them was absolutely miles out at the back and I had to layer the caulk to close the gap :D
 
Forgot about this thread.

Quick update, got 6 fitted and painted for £550 all in, took him a few hours plus what ever he had done prior to get the initial cutting etc. done off site. They look great and I'm struggling to see how the first quote of £1300 would be justified (same materials.)
When the precise cuts were made, they were way out with each other to fit, it showed how uneven the alcoves actually were. Glad I didn't even attempt it!
 
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