# Floating Shelves



## Danorak1981 (Jul 20, 2011)

Hello people.

Aside from my introductory post, this is my first post here. I'm no woodworker or joiner, I just like to get hands on and 'have a go' at making stuff at home. That way I can things to fit perfectly in the spaces provided.

My main reason for coming here is the lack of inspiring forums around the UK. This place seemed pretty upbeat so I joined... Anyway, I digress!

I'm making some floating shelves at home for an alcove. I'm having a little trouble getting them on the wall at the moment though! I can't use the sides of the alcove as the walls aren't square, slightly mis-shapen, so I have to fit brackets to the rear wall. 

The wood i'm using here is white wood. I don't know if it's very different over in the US, but it's what they use for roofing beams etc here. The dimensions are as follows:

Length: 81.5cm
Thickness: 4.2cm
Depth: 22cm.

I've got 3 to go in one alcove and 3 to go in another. The other alcove the shelves are slightly longer, at 84.5cm.

Now, these shelves are never going to hold anything heavy: just a few photo frames and ornaments. I'm also cutting a 40cm section out of the rear (along the length, about 5cms in depth) on the top and middle shelves as there is a wall light thats going behind the top one, which one shine a small amount of light across the middle shelf and filter through a little bit to the bottom shelf.

The bit i'm struggling with is brackets. I really don't know what brackets to use. After a search through posts here, I see that people have used these, but I can't find anything similar in the UK. I did find these from a UK seller, but not sure whether they'd be any good. I was looking at the brassy ones, but they don't have a great length. Is there a specific minimum size I should be looking at?

Also, how do you keep the shelves to stay on? I figured you should have a screw or something that goes through the underside of the shelf, through the bracket, and back into the wood, but no brackets I have found have holes for that!

Oh, and the walls they will be going on are brick walls (plastered over the top).

Hopefully i've made some sense there! I look forward to your thoughts/opinions.

Dan


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## PurpleHeartJarHead (Jul 17, 2011)

This is a very visual bunch here. Can you provide some photos of your shelves and maybe the space itself?


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Danorak1981 said:


> Hello people.
> 
> Aside from my introductory post, this is my first post here. I'm no woodworker or joiner, I just like to get hands on and 'have a go' at making stuff at home. That way I can things to fit perfectly in the spaces provided.
> 
> ...


 
Hi Dan - Don't know how far you are into the project. For one like that I would be tempted to "skin" them together on the wall. That would involve attaching cleats to the wall with masonry fasteners along the back wall and sides. 
Cleats would be about 30mm wide, by 30-40 mm deep and whatever length. Then cover the top and bottom with 6 mm plywood panels. Fill the front with another piece of wood of similar dimensions of the back cleat. Would be attached with brad nails and or glue to the cleats through the top and bottom of the panels. The panels could be trimmed to fit the wall.
Problem here is if you are well into the project, this could well be a whole different approach.
Good Luck.


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## Danorak1981 (Jul 20, 2011)

Hi guys.

Thanks for that info John, although I must say, most of that went over my head. All of that actually. I'm new to woodwork like this, so i'm basically starting my knowledge base from scratch, sorry! Am I right to assume that for this method that essentially the shelf would be hollow: like i'm making a frame (albeit without sides) and covering the frame, top and bottom with the ply whilst the back edge is totally fixed to the wall? So like i'm building a shelf around the frame? I'm not sure what a cleat is, I done a bit of research but found no conclusive answer: is it like a pair interlocking shapes that come to a point?

If i've read the above correctly, then the issue I have there is that i've already bought the timber. It's been cut and planed and is ready for wall mounting/staining. What I really should have been more clear about in my original long-winded post is that i'm a bit unsure of the bracket situation. Apologies if I didn't explain myself very well :blush:

In response to the previous post, here is the alcove and the timber:















And i'm trying to achieve this kind of look:















...and when I refer to having the top shelf backlit with a section cut out from the top and middle shelf to allow the light to shine down, this is kinda what I'm looking to achieve, backlit shelving:









I know i'm only going to have one light at the top (where the wire is coming from the wall in my alcove picture), but you get what I mean. The wall to the right with the green floral wallpaper is the fireplace, and there is another alcove (for the larger 84.5cm shelving) to the right, so we're having 3 shelves each side of the fireplace.

Hopefully i'm making a bit more sense!


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

i think i can answer that. take the shelves and measure its thickness. cut a dado leaving about 1/4 to 3/8 of meat on all 3 sides, making sure not to cut all the way on the sides, leave about 2 inces. then cut scrap stock that fits snugly into your dado. level and mount your strips, and slide your shelf into place. you can put a set screw in the back corners to keep in place.


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## R.J. (Feb 11, 2011)

I'll try to explain. At the ends of two shelves make a groove.
Two bars mounted to the wall. Paste ..
Is it in England Millimeter?


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## Dburnson (Aug 5, 2011)

It seems like the only option would be to use the alcove sides as support, which you mentioned earlier that you didn't want to do because the alcove isn't square. You mentioned that the boards are cut and planed and ready to go in, but I'm assuming that you didn't cut them to fit snug on the sides. I don't know if your bracket idea would work for what you are trying to do with the backlighting idea, so if your shelves are close to snug, I would do what has already been suggested, and cut grooves in your shelves on the sides, and cut strips to fit those grooves to use as the supports.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Your shelves are thick.

I would drill holes in the back wall and insert rods into these holes. Probably a 3/8" rod would be good. Your shelves look thick enough for 1/2" if you think that is necessary. Drill corresponding holes into the shelves. Slide the shelves over the rods. Stand back and admire your work. Nothing will show. Just like your example pictures.

You may want to epoxy the rods into the brick walls just for extra security.

George


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

I've got some shelves like that not installed at the moment - I'll try to get some pictures this weekend for you.


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## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

Danorak1981 said:


> Hello people.
> 
> Aside from my introductory post, this is my first post here. I'm no woodworker or joiner, I just like to get hands on and 'have a go' at making stuff at home. That way I can things to fit perfectly in the spaces provided.
> 
> ...




Need these?:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17507


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