Floating shelves

[Ben Hatcher]

I'm building some floating shelves for our home office that I intend to put books on. The shelves will be about 5' long, 1' deep, and about 3' thick. My question is how many/what kind of screws/bolts/etc. should I use to secure the shelves to the wall? I tend to think that two 3 1/2" deck screw per stud will be sufficient. Does that sound about right to you?

[Brad Wood]

seems like that would do. I've had 36" floating shelves with books on them and only drywall/deck screws holding them in.... only one per stud at that

a lag screw would probably be more of a sure thing though

[Greg R Bradley]

Books are HEAVY and if the shelf is 12" deep that is a lot of leverage on a screw. I assume you mean your floating shelf is 3", thick. If I understand this correctly, that means you will have 2+" vertically between your screws to resist the twisting force of your cantilevered shelf.

Are these going through drywall?

First priority is to use good screws. Spax are excellent. Now available at OSH and Home Depot.

I have used Spax #12 to support a lot of weight. These were going through the item being attached, the drywall, and then 2.5" into the stud. They are available to 4.5" long or more. Spax 1/4" are available to 6" long.

One of the big problems of going into studs is the quality of the stud. Some screws will hit a void, knot, split, etc. and you don't want to rely completely on every screw having the strength that the theory says it will have.

[Ben Hatcher]

Greg, I'll look for the spax screws. I'm actually more concerned about the drywall crushing than I am about the screws coming out.

[Jon Bonham]

The more area (bigger footprint) you can put onto the drywall, the less chance of it crushing.

[Rob Sack]

My Dad came up with a method years ago that works great for heavy items like books, even with shelves as thin as 3/4" thick. Mark your studs at the required shelf height. Drill a 3/8" horizontal hole into each stud. Mark the location of the holes onto the back of the shelf. Drill corresponding 3/8" horizontal holes into the back of the shelf. Place 3/8" steel rod into the holes in the wall and bend them slightly up. Make sure the holes are as straight as possible. I've usually done them by eye, but a jig would certainly improve your chances of great results. Slide on the shelf and you're all set.

[Greg Labacz]

I want to put floating shelves up in my "Man Cave", but, when the contractor put up the drywall he used metal studs. Could I use screws to go into the metal studs or use anchors in the drywall???:eek::eek::eek:

[Ben Hatcher]

Greg, Metal studs are pretty flimsy. You'll need anchors or preferably toggle bolts no matter what you tie into. You're going to be pretty limited on how much weight you can put on your shelves.