Hi,
We have tried to mount two wooden shelves with brackets on a wall in an apartment from 1912. The problem is that the screws won't hold no matter what we do. We have tried drilling, plugging, and gluing with construction adhesive in the drilled holes, but the shelves still collapse. Now we have received various suggestions, and I would like to get some ideas from you.
1. Glue a 15 mm plywood board to the entire wall, paint it, and then drill through it.
2. Route grooves and insert studs, spackle over and paint, and drill through the studs.
3. Attach studs to the wall with adhesive (without routing them in) from floor to ceiling to distribute the load.
4. Use a shelving system like Elfa that distributes the load of the shelves.
The shelves are meant to store books and folders in an office, so it's important that they hold.
Help!
Thankful for answers,
Lena
We have tried to mount two wooden shelves with brackets on a wall in an apartment from 1912. The problem is that the screws won't hold no matter what we do. We have tried drilling, plugging, and gluing with construction adhesive in the drilled holes, but the shelves still collapse. Now we have received various suggestions, and I would like to get some ideas from you.
1. Glue a 15 mm plywood board to the entire wall, paint it, and then drill through it.
2. Route grooves and insert studs, spackle over and paint, and drill through the studs.
3. Attach studs to the wall with adhesive (without routing them in) from floor to ceiling to distribute the load.
4. Use a shelving system like Elfa that distributes the load of the shelves.
The shelves are meant to store books and folders in an office, so it's important that they hold.
Help!
Thankful for answers,
Lena
Member
· Västernorrland
· 12 030 posts
It's probably bricks and plaster and it can go without tracks and such, but then you need to use something like "screw plug" that are 100-150mm long. Only then does it usually hold well. Right now you're probably just in the plaster and working there, and nothing really adheres. In an office, I would probably rather get furniture for the purpose.
Essve has a good guide for fastening in different materials.
https://www.essve.com/globalassets/...h/guides/proffsguideskruv_infastning_4709.pdf
Page 43 shows examples for fastening in brick. If it's really tough, you can use anchor mass, page 52.
How do you anchor? In porous materials, it might be good to drill a smaller size than specified and use a cheap wood or steel drill instead of concrete as it creates a neater hole. Finally, don't tighten the screws too much as the plug can easily start spinning and enlarge the hole.
https://www.essve.com/globalassets/...h/guides/proffsguideskruv_infastning_4709.pdf
Page 43 shows examples for fastening in brick. If it's really tough, you can use anchor mass, page 52.
How do you anchor? In porous materials, it might be good to drill a smaller size than specified and use a cheap wood or steel drill instead of concrete as it creates a neater hole. Finally, don't tighten the screws too much as the plug can easily start spinning and enlarge the hole.
Thank you for the response and tips. The "office" is in our apartment and should also function as a guest room, so we want it to be both stylish and practical. Along the walls runs a 15 cm built-in drainage channel from the kitchen, so regular furniture with bookshelves doesn't work. I'll continue to look into your tips!
Also have hopeless walls. What works to get things to stay is really long screws. 120-150mm anchor bolts or equivalent are good alternatives. (Check that the wall is thicker first. 
)
It's important to find good anchors, Fisher's and Essve's lightweight concrete anchors have given good results. Fisher's can be a bit tricky if the actual plaster is hard.
Where it's really bad and needs to be secured for something heavy, I first drill a hole as deep as I dare, blow it clean with compressed air or a rubber blower, fill with chemical anchor and set a regular anchor on the outside. The outer anchor is mainly so the screw can create some pressure against the wall before the mass hardens.
For your purpose, I would go with Elfa's rails or equivalent and mount them on the wall. Since they are attached in many places along the wall, it becomes very stable with a relatively small amount of work.
)It's important to find good anchors, Fisher's and Essve's lightweight concrete anchors have given good results. Fisher's can be a bit tricky if the actual plaster is hard.
Where it's really bad and needs to be secured for something heavy, I first drill a hole as deep as I dare, blow it clean with compressed air or a rubber blower, fill with chemical anchor and set a regular anchor on the outside. The outer anchor is mainly so the screw can create some pressure against the wall before the mass hardens.
For your purpose, I would go with Elfa's rails or equivalent and mount them on the wall. Since they are attached in many places along the wall, it becomes very stable with a relatively small amount of work.