Melamine coated shelving

[Lee Southern12]

I am redoing my closet. I have decided to use the 12 inch wide melamine coated particle board. First, is this the correct decision relative to 12 inch pine boards. Second, what is the maximum length I can go without using supports. I am looking at 44 and 48 inches. If I have to support beteen these widths, I will have supports on adjacent studs. Thanks for the input.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I'd recommend at least one support in the middle for that span. Most of the shelves in my closet (same material) are much shorter with no issues. My wife's "craft" room has a 48" span that has noticable sagged a little, so I need to put on some sort of support.

[Jim Becker]

IMHO, as long as your closet design is white, yes this is the right decision. As much as I'm not a total fan of the stuff, but for storage situations, it reduces the work considerably since there is no finishing, is easy to keep clean and is readily available. Yes, you should have support in the middle of a 48" span unless you are only going to be storing very light-weight materials such as hats, etc. Even then, it may sag a little over time.

[Steve Clardy]

I've installed a lot of it.

Easy to clean

Supports need to be at least every 24"

[Scott Loven]

I did mine with a support all along the back and sides and one rod/shelf support on the near center stud. Works great.
Scott

[Lee Southern12]

If I have a support all along the back, will i need to support it in the middle or 44 or 48 inches. Why am I fretting this? Well the closet is 12 feet wide, so i have no option for one support (where the pieces join), and if I need to support in the middle of 44 or 48, I will have supports on adjacent studs, and I just do not like that look. But it is a closet, right?

L

[Joe Chritz]

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

Same place I send everybody with a shelf question. In informal tests it appears to be fairly accurate. Material tensile strengths are well known so no reason it wouldn't be.

Remember not all melamine is made the same. Be sure to use whatever grade your core is. Borg's are unlikely to even know what you are talking about if you ask for M2 or better cores.

Joe

[Lee Southern12]

Well, that seems to be a good site, and if correct, and I am not doubting, i need support between 44 inches

[Joe Chritz]

Depends on what you are putting on it and the weight. It also depends on the grade of melamine you are using.

For bookshelves (about 25 lbs per foot even spacing) you need supports every 34 inches or so using M2 melamine. That happens to be a grade I can get from a local lumber yard for a few dollars more than the borg.

I don't know if multiple spans have better sag resistance than single spans like they do in floor trusses.

Hardwood edging and rear support pins will help.

Joe

[David Giles]

I used melamine for multiple closet bookshelves that were about 60" long. I put a 1.5" oak lip on the front and screwed cleats to the wall studs under the shelves. They store lots of old WW magazines without sag. Some sort of support every 24" seems about right.

[Charlie Plesums]

I used melamine for multiple closet bookshelves that were about 60" long. I put a 1.5" oak lip on the front and screwed cleats to the wall studs under the shelves. They store lots of old WW magazines without sag. Some sort of support every 24" seems about right.

The oak strip on the front and the cleat along the back make this a lot stronger than a piece of melamine supported on the ends. Since I hate particle board because of the sag, I vote for at least every 24 inches, perhaps every 16 inches.

[Dennis Montgomery]

I own a custom closet business, so here's my 2 cents, don't go over 36" for the melamine and don't put 30lb sacks of potatoes on it. Anything longer will eventually bow under its own weight without anything on it. My rule of thumb is to not use shelves wider than 30" because I can't control what customers put on them. I had customer a while back put a small floor safe on a 36" x 14" shelf above a hang bar and then called me complaining because the shelf bowed. It took both of us to move it off the shelf.

12" boards will support less weight before bowing than 14" or 16" boards. I use 14" melamine which is pretty standard in the industry, but some companies will use 12" above the hang rods and 16" for shelf towers. As long as you just put folding clothes and shoes on the shelves, 12" will work just fine. If you have to go longer, put a cleat across the back and under the shelf.