The art of creating shelves for your home exemplifies the heart of DIY culture, allowing you to create a work of art that is both visually appealing and incredibly useful. This article aims to take you through the process of building and securing shelves within your home.
Acquire the Materials for Your Shelf
The first step you need to take when planning to build your own shelf is to gather the necessary materials. This is going to depend largely on the type of shelf you are intending to make, meaning it is advisable to consider the type of shelf you want before you buy anything.
Get the Right Tools
In terms of getting materials together, you are also going to need a few useful tools to put your shelf together, which means you are going to need to visit a store such as Tradefix Direct (https://tradefixdirect.com/) in order to collect any necessary tools and supplies you don’t already own. These could include:
Fixings: one of the most important materials you are going to need are the fixings that will help you secure your shelf to the wall. Without these, you would run the risk of your shelf falling and, in the best case, getting damaged; in the worst case, injuring someone.
Drill and driver: another important tool for this process would be an electric drill and driver, which would allow you to both drill holes into your wall in order to secure your shelf to the wall, and to screw the shelf to the wall with the aid of your fixings.
Stud finder: last, but far from least, you would absolutely want a stud finder to help you scan the wall before you drill into it—therefore avoiding accidentally drilling into a dangerous object. If your stud finder picks up an obstruction, do not drill there.
Put the Shelf Together
Once you have everything you need to start working, you should construct your shelf by following your plan and making sure to measure everything carefully, so that you don’t make any mistakes.
Secure the Shelf
Finally, with the shelf fully constructed, you must be sure to carefully secure it to the wall (as was previously mentioned) before you place anything onto it. This is because you have built a tall structure over a relatively narrow base, which means that too much weight near the top of the shelf could be enough to topple it, causing serious harm to the shelf itself and anything unfortunate enough to be underneath it when it falls. Use the following guidance:
Check, mark, and drill: as outlined above, you should start by checking the areas where you want to secure the shelf to the wall with the stud finder. If you find there is nothing to worry about, then you should mark those spots with a pencil to help guide your drilling, and follow up by drilling into those spaces.
Screw it in: once those holes have been drilled, apply the fixings to these new holes and to your shelf and screw them together. This will help to keep your shelf secure, and give you peace of mind as you use it.
