Shelving advice needed please!

[Redtreble]

We have a cupboard above the stairs which you can see in the attached photo. I want to install some shelving. The back wall feels very thin, it's just a simple partition and I don't think it will take a rawlplug without it coming out the other side! I may be wrong about this but I'm planning on attaching the shelves to the two sides of the cupboard instead, which are solid walls and will definitely take more weight.

Each shelve will be 90cm long and 30cm-40cm deep. I'm looking for some advice on the most efficient way to attach the shelves to the walls. I was thinking about attaching four slotted uprights (so the shelves can be adjusted if/when needed) and using brackets. Is this the best way to do it and if so, where would be the best place to get the brackets?

And for the shelves, I was thinking about getting B&Q to cut some wood for me. Would MDF do the job? It doesn't have to be too aesthetically pleasing, more functional than anything.

I'm not the most talented DIY-er but shelves should just about be in my competency zone!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

TIA.

 

[big-all]

is this a cuboard above the stairs full width off the stairs or sharing with a room the other side each with a cupboard half-and-half ??

 

[Redtreble]

is this a cuboard above the stairs full width off the stairs or sharing with a room the other side each with a cupboard half-and-half ??

It's the full width of the stairs. As you're facing it, the right hand wall is the external property wall. The left hand wall dissects the smallest bedroom, so if the small bedroom was a full square, the cupboard takes up a quarter of the room if that makes sense?

 

[big-all]

is this a new build off unknown outer wall construction [possibly dot and dab ]or possibly old house with plasterboard attached to an uneven wall ??
but in general dependant on wall each side iff you use actual timber rather [possibly scaffold boards old or new] than mdf you wont need support on the back wall

as an aside scaffold boards are 227mm wide

 

[mcprinter]

If you determine that the Side Walls are suitable, would Bookcase Strips do the job?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bookcase-strips-980-x-16mm-10-pack/31800

Have seen them installed somewhere. Have not used them myself.

 

[big-all]

yes but an unusual choice as they are designed for 15mm contiboard at perhaps 400-600 spacing will probably fully cope with 900 at 300mm depth off shelve but i prefer to overengineer to allow for redundancy
2x1 batons cost a few pence[£2a metre ish ] so £1 a shelf

now j&k or others in the real world may point out that i am out off touch and support strips are the norm and i will fully accept this as in my isolated world have lost general trends over the the last 5 or so years

 

[mcprinter]

yes but an unusual choice as they are designed for 15mm contiboard at perhaps 400-600 spacing will probably fully cope with 900 at 300mm depth off shelve but i prefer to overengineer to allow for redundancy
2x1 batons cost a few pence[£2a metre ish ] so £1 a shelf

It was because the OP wanted adjustable.

 

[Redtreble]

is this a new build off unknown outer wall construction [possibly dot and dab ]or possibly old house with plasterboard attached to an uneven wall ??
but in general dependant on wall each side iff you use actual timber rather [possibly scaffold boards old or new] than mdf you wont need support on the back wall

as an aside scaffold boards are 227mm wide

1950's. Okay, sounds like timber might be the way to go!

If you determine that the Side Walls are suitable, would Bookcase Strips do the job?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bookcase-strips-980-x-16mm-10-pack/31800

Have seen them installed somewhere. Have not used them myself.

Thanks. Yes, it's that sort of thing I'm considering.

yes but an unusual choice as they are designed for 15mm contiboard at perhaps 400-600 spacing will probably fully cope with 900 at 300mm depth off shelve but i prefer to overengineer to allow for redundancy
2x1 batons cost a few pence[£2a metre ish ] so £1 a shelf

now j&k or others in the real world may point out that i am out off touch and support strips are the norm and i will fully accept this as in my isolated world have lost general trends over the the last 5 or so years

It was because the OP wanted adjustable.

Thanks both. Yes, I'm considering adjustable but still may go for fixed shelves, not decided 100% yet.

 

[cwhaley]

I'd agree.. timber. Build a frame inside the cupboard with it secured to the walls. The weight will be transferred to the timber and down to the floor as opposed to the walls.

 

[Redtreble]

I'd agree.. timber. Build a frame inside the cupboard with it secured to the walls. The weight will be transferred to the timber and down to the floor as opposed to the walls.

So a batten frame with timber shelves sitting on the batten then?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If you determine that the Side Walls are suitable, would Bookcase Strips do the job?.

As B-A says, they are really designed to be fixed to a board, not an uneven wall, and the screw holes aren't big enough to take the size of screws you need to fix them to masonry (from memory most are designed for use with 3 or 3.5mm screws)

They also require notches to be made in the ends of the shelves

They would work if the OP could get a board fixed to the wall either side ofvthe opening, but the boards would need to be plumb and coplanar (i.e. same distance apart front and rear) for the moveable shelves to work

Personally I think I'd suggest 2 x 1 battens to the OP (drilled, plugged , screwed to the masonry, but what is on the other side?) with something like scaffold boards for shelves unless he really wants to carry heavy loads on the shelves, in which case it would need framed shelves

Happy with that, B-A?

 

[cwhaley]

So a batten frame with timber shelves sitting on the batten then?

Yes. Any timber yard will sell you suitable timber to make the frame, then the shelves can sit on these. Something like 38mm x 38mm would be appropriate although I'd avoid looking for 'battens' as that wording is often reserved for roofing timber and you might struggle find the right dimensions.

To ensure it'll take a good amount of weight I'd have the shelves (made from ply or 18mm MDF) sat on lengths running at both the sides and the front/rear, so it doesn't bow.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Yes. Any timber yard will sell you suitable timber to make the frame, then the shelves can sit on these. Something like 38mm x 38mm would be appropriate although I'd avoid looking for 'battens' as that wording is often reserved for roofing timber and you might struggle find the right dimensions

It depends where you are, really. In a slate roof area like this slate laths (rough sawn and generally treated these days) are different from battens, which are general PSE (planed) timber.

To check if a shelf under load the best aid I've ever found is the Sagulator. Select the material (MFC is called "melamine" in the USA), key in length, width, thickness (and your units) and it gives you the answer

 

[cwhaley]

It depends where you are, really. In a slate roof area like this slate laths (rough sawn and generally treated these days) are different from battens, which are general PSE (planed) timber.

To check if a shelf under load the best aid I've ever found is the Sagulator. Select the material (MFC is called "melamine" in the USA), key in length, width, thickness (and your units) and it gives you the answer

I just meant if buying from t'internet, as I found when Googling the words 'timber batten' I'd get roofing battens/aths/slats brought up in most of the results. We call them laths too (for any tile type really) -- my parents' house is slate and mine are clay.

When I used to work for a large High Street retailer, we'd use that 'sagulator' site to check weighting on the metal shelves used in stores! For a cupboard the size of the OP's though, 18mm ply would hold anything you could fit in there, I reckon.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Sorry, I generally think in terms of what a trade place like a builders merchant or timber merchant would call stuff, partly because in my experience that is a cheaper way to buy (Travis being the exception that proves the rule, I suppose). Places like B&Q and the Internet seem to be run by the "ignorami" for whom anything goes