Making a floating shelf?

NotAGolf · 1 Nov 2016 at 14:19

I’ve got a reasonably sized offcut of worktop that I’d like to convert into a shelf. It’s solid wood (walnut) and the size of the shelf will be approximately 500x250x40mm, so it’s a fair amount of weight in itself, and it will be holding some speakers and books on top of it too.

The tricky part is that I want it to be a floating shelf. Is it possible to convert this into a floating shelf myself? I’m hoping I can just drill some holes and attach some fittings, but I’m not sure if floating shelves are designed with this in mind and are constructed differently.

It’ll be attached to plaster covered blockwork, and I can put in as many fittings as possible which should help with the weight.

Peerzy · 1 Nov 2016 at 14:29

It'll probably just be easier and safer to buy one, I think I paid £10 for a 100cm one from Ikea that came with all the correct fittings and looked professional.

Otherwise it'll just be a case of having a go and hoping for the best.

paintguy · 1 Nov 2016 at 14:51

You can buy different types of floating shelf bracket, but they generally consist of a thin plate that attaches to the wall with rod(s) or pin(s) that protrude outwards into the room.

Drill a hole of a suitable depth and diameter in your piece of wood and slide it on. Bingo.

thezappa · 1 Nov 2016 at 14:57

Probably wouldn't be too hard, just make sure you drill the holes straight in to the wood, you can probably get drill guides that will help.

As for the other stuff; I'd just find the heaviest duty floating shelf fixings/brackets you can, you can buy them as single bars or as two bars connected by a strip which in-turn you fix to the wall.
How heavy do you think all the stuff will be? Most brackets seem to accept 25kg per pair so in theory you could get two pairs and have enough to hold the weight (assuming your books and speakers weren't too heavy of course).

darreny · 1 Nov 2016 at 15:06

You'd need a forstner bit capable of 175mm depth I'd say and be able to drill straight at the depth

cheesyboy · 1 Nov 2016 at 15:14

There's probably a proper way of doing it, but having just hung a large oak beam as a mantle using a similar method (see the 'man jobs I did today' thread) I'd do this:

M6 rawlbolts, swap the bolts out for 300mm M6 threaded rods (cut them down a bit so that, say, 120mm (or however deep you will be able to drill) sticks out of the wall) and mount.

Drill deep holes in the back edge of your shelf using a slightly larger bit, so that the rods will slide in. Squirt a load of polyurethane glue in the holes, and slide the shelf into place on the wall.

Rawlbolts:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-rawlbolts-m6-x-85mm-5-pack/85343

Rods:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-s...s-steel-threaded-rods-m6-x-300mm-5-pack/9215j

darreny · 1 Nov 2016 at 15:25

You used bigger than m6 for oak didn't you?

cheesyboy · 1 Nov 2016 at 15:27

I used M10. Four of them.

Tested them for strength - one laid between two blocks could hold my weight (12st), bending a little. The beam was lighter than me

NotAGolf · 1 Nov 2016 at 17:09

Peerzy said:
It'll probably just be easier and safer to buy one, I think I paid £10 for a 100cm one from Ikea that came with all the correct fittings and looked professional.

Otherwise it'll just be a case of having a go and hoping for the best.

It will be located close to the worktop though so the difference between a nice solid wood and a cheap laminate job will be blindingly obvious. Buying a readymade solid walnut quickly ramps up the price.

thezappa said:
Probably wouldn't be too hard, just make sure you drill the holes straight in to the wood, you can probably get drill guides that will help.

As for the other stuff; I'd just find the heaviest duty floating shelf fixings/brackets you can, you can buy them as single bars or as two bars connected by a strip which in-turn you fix to the wall.
How heavy do you think all the stuff will be? Most brackets seem to accept 25kg per pair so in theory you could get two pairs and have enough to hold the weight (assuming your books and speakers weren't too heavy of course).

Drilling straight enough will probably be an issue actually. Would definitely need a guide of sorts. Weight wise, I can’t imagine I’d be putting much more than 10-15kg on there, but I imagine the wood itself will be ~10kg.

cheesyboy said:
There's probably a proper way of doing it, but having just hung a large oak beam as a mantle using a similar method (see the 'man jobs I did today' thread) I'd do this:

M6 rawlbolts, swap the bolts out for 300mm M6 threaded rods (cut them down a bit so that, say, 120mm (or however deep you will be able to drill) sticks out of the wall) and mount.

Drill deep holes in the back edge of your shelf using a slightly larger bit, so that the rods will slide in. Squirt a load of polyurethane glue in the holes, and slide the shelf into place on the wall.

That certainly seems like the easiest suggestion so far. I’d rather not use glue though. Can imagine that being a right pain to get off the wall if you change your mind!!

cheesyboy · 2 Nov 2016 at 09:47

mpledge52 said:
That certainly seems like the easiest suggestion so far. I’d rather not use glue though. Can imagine that being a right pain to get off the wall if you change your mind!!

Yeah, would be tricky to remove. You could probably skip the glue if the shelf isn't somewhere that would get knocked. The pressure is almost all vertical, so wouldn't slide off if your holes were fairly tight to the rods, and the rods are a decent depth.

Or could just put a small amount of adhesive between the shelf and the wall. Probably a better idea overall, to be honest. Use No More Nails, as that stuff will just crack off if you ever decide to remove.

darreny · 2 Nov 2016 at 10:23

You will also need to chisel out the back of the shelf for the section of bracket that screws to the wall, not to hard but is another process

Abyss · 2 Nov 2016 at 10:37

I used these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Concealed...hash=item3aa4a32ef5:m:mN6N4N0Y2KfBtNEiZsDmh2A

The main benefit was I could push the fixing straight through the plasterboard and into the blockwork and also there was no need to chisel out the recess that most fittings need.

Given the loadings you will need more than 2 though.

BigBoy · 2 Nov 2016 at 12:11

Abyss said:
I used these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Concealed...hash=item3aa4a32ef5:m:mN6N4N0Y2KfBtNEiZsDmh2A

The main benefit was I could push the fixing straight through the plasterboard and into the blockwork and also there was no need to chisel out the recess that most fittings need.

Given the loadings you will need more than 2 though.

These look great for what I need although the length of the rod sticking out of the wall is too long (putting a harth mantle up and its only 4inches thick) can they be cut?

jellybeard999 · 2 Nov 2016 at 12:34

It's doable, but it'd be easier to go for some nice brackets IMO.

This type of bracket can achieve the floating shelf effect more easily if you can find them in the correct size.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/.../ekby-bjärnum-bracket-aluminium-art-10136135/

pepp77 · 2 Nov 2016 at 12:37

Also make sure your walls are straight. I bought a 100cm floating shelf and had to return it because where I wanted it to go the wall wasnt straight enough. Ended up having to buy 2 x 60cm ones instead and put them side by side.

Skiddley · 2 Nov 2016 at 13:03

I did it with solid oak.

Instructions below. 3 per shelf (forget distance apart), have been holding steady under quite a bit of load for a year.

Sorry, don't know how to resize pics.

Abyss · 2 Nov 2016 at 13:37

BigBoy said:
These look great for what I need although the length of the rod sticking out of the wall is too long (putting a harth mantle up and its only 4inches thick) can they be cut?

They aren't designed to be but I cut a pair of them down to do a small 2 inch shelf so yes you can. They are just steel rods coated in plastic, so I used a hacksaw and grinder to round the end off.

Your solution looks great Skiddley. The only build I would have for the OPs dot and dabbed walls is to either replace the projecting anchor bolts with something like Rigifix, or fit a nut both in front and behind the mounting plate. The main reason being in order to tighten up the anchor bolts and fix the plate in place a lot of pressure will be applied to the plasterboard and any weight on the shelf will be transferred to the plastboard. In time the shelf may start to damage the plasterboard and drop.

Skiddley · 2 Nov 2016 at 13:47

Totally agree - would need a rethink for dot\dab.

My wall was masonry\plaster.

NotAGolf · 2 Nov 2016 at 22:14

Abyss said:
Your solution looks great Skiddley. The only build I would have for the OPs dot and dabbed walls is to either replace the projecting anchor bolts with something like Rigifix, or fit a nut both in front and behind the mounting plate. The main reason being in order to tighten up the anchor bolts and fix the plate in place a lot of pressure will be applied to the plasterboard and any weight on the shelf will be transferred to the plastboard. In time the shelf may start to damage the plasterboard and drop.

I don't have dot and dabbed plasterboard. It's a blockwork, covered with ~10mm bonding and ~3mm plaster skim.

Street · 3 Nov 2016 at 16:52

cheesyboy said:
M6 rawlbolts, swap the bolts out for 300mm M6 threaded rods (cut them down a bit so that, say, 120mm (or however deep you will be able to drill) sticks out of the wall) and mount.

I had exactly the same problem today and came up with the same solution. I was going to use long M8 rods threaded into GripIt fixings as I'm fixing to a stud wall. Unfortunately only one of the shelf holes lines up with a timber stud!