Floating shelves questions

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
@Willemjm I don't understand why your original thread is closed. Seems rather silly, but it's whatever. So my apologies for having to troll your threads and start a new one.

I'm curious if you have made floating shelves around an entire room with 45 degree corners?

I own a rental house that doesn't have a panty in the kitchen, but has 10' high ceilings. The kitchen measures 13' x 13' 6" I was thinking these floating shelves might be a good solution for storage and what not. So I don't have to build a panty.

I plan on 10" deep, wall "studs" are oak and on 24" centers. There is no lath and plaster, it was ripped and replaced with 1/2" drywall. I'll probably use some BC plywood for the sleeve as you call it, because it will be painted white anyways.

Any advise would be very helpful - thanks

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JGG

New User
John
So I made some 12” floaters for my son’s house and had a tough time getting my impact driver on the screws due to the limited distance between frame members front to back. A friend has asked me to make him some 10” floaters. How do you get around this issue when you do the install, angle the screws when you drive them into the studs? Does this affect the bearing capacity?
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
So I made some 12” floaters for my son’s house and had a tough time getting my impact driver on the screws due to the limited distance between frame members front to back. A friend has asked me to make him some 10” floaters. How do you get around this issue when you do the install, angle the screws when you drive them into the studs? Does this affect the bearing capacity?

I thought of that already :oops: I was planning on using a my pneumatic impact wrench and lag bolts to fasten the frames to the walls. I think I could get by pretty good with 4" x 1/2" lag bolts with flat and lock washers.
 

Chris C

Chris
Senior User
I would think a small hole drilled in the outside just big enough to fit a driver bit extension would do the trick.
 

Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
I would NOT want to climb up to some high shelves to get stuff. Please build a pantry.
 

tarheelz

Dave
Corporate Member
So I made some 12” floaters for my son’s house and had a tough time getting my impact driver on the screws due to the limited distance between frame members front to back. A friend has asked me to make him some 10” floaters. How do you get around this issue when you do the install, angle the screws when you drive them into the studs? Does this affect the bearing capacity?

Put the front of the frame on after you have the back piece bolted to the wall.
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Unfortunately that thread ended up in a marathon of controversy.

Below is a link claiming strength of these beyond what we tested. His prices are crazy, and I believe we have a much stronger product.


We have done a few with 45 degree angle joints and some wall to wall. The difference with those are thicker ply, we build the frames off site and the sleeves on site as trim carpentry.

We have also done some as a solid wood shelf without any brackets, using 3/4” dowels as part of the construction. That is a pretty economic solution compared to the link above.
 
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CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Unfortunately that thread ended up in a marathon of controversy.

Below is a link claiming strength of these beyond what we tested. His prices are crazy, and I believe we have a much stronger product.


We have done a few with 45 degree angle joints and some wall to wall. The difference with those are thicker ply, we build the frames off site and the sleeves on site as trim carpentry.

We have also done some as a solid wood shelf without any brackets, using 3/4” dowels as part of the construction. That is a pretty economic solution compared to the link above.

I was also looking at solid shelves. It would be easy to go and pick up a 2x at the BORG and machine flat, rip and drill for dowels.

Thanks
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
I was also looking at solid shelves. It would be easy to go and pick up a 2x at the BORG and machine flat, rip and drill for dowels.

Thanks
Giving my secrets away:)

We use 8/4, drill 4 1/2" deep 3/4" diameter along the back jointed long edge. Then we rip 1 1/2" of the edge just drilled off, you need a quality blade that leaves a jointer cut, otherwise you have to go back to the jointer. We then glue 3/4" dowels into the edge we just ripped off. That edge gets screwed into studs on the wall, then the other part of the shelf slides onto the dowels to make a solid shelf. We put small screws in the bottom of the shelf to screw into the dowels, making the shelf fixed, but removable if needed.
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Giving my secrets away:)

We use 8/4, drill 4 1/2" deep 3/4" diameter along the back jointed long edge. Then we rip 1 1/2" of the edge just drilled off, you need a quality blade that leaves a jointer cut, otherwise you have to go back to the jointer. We then glue 3/4" dowels into the edge we just ripped off. That edge gets screwed into studs on the wall, then the other part of the shelf slides onto the dowels to make a solid shelf. We put small screws in the bottom of the shelf to screw into the dowels, making the shelf fixed, but removable if needed.

Not really... But yours are better built.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I fastened the front on after attaching the other parts of the supports to the wall. The front does not see nearly the stress of the back. I used two 2 inch 18 gauge brads plus 1 screw to hold the fronts on. I haven't had any issues.

I have one corner in my one installation but it did not come out great due to me not noticing the walls are not at right anges to each other. It is a storage room so I don't see it as a big deal. I did not miter the corners, I installed one set of frames to the corner and then attached the other one to it. I don't know if that's the best way to do it but it works. If I did it again, I would do the same but I might miter the cover skin. I just butted it too. I think it would have been wiser to allow more clearance on the ends between the inner frame and the cover. I only allowed 1/8 so when I saw the cover wasn't meeting right where they touch, I did not have the wiggle room to recut the second skin to get the angle of intersection right. I don't think allowing 1/2 inch clearance on the end would hurt anything. Or I could have just checked the angle and adjusted. Figuring it out as you are installing with no wiggle room is NOT a great plan.
 

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