How do I install a run of shelving?

A shelving run differs from a single shelf in two ways: everything must line up with everything else, and the loads add up. Getting the first upright truly plumb is what determines whether the whole run looks right, because every subsequent shelf references it.

Safety

What you'll need

• Shelving system or brackets and boards
• Drill with the correct bits
• Cable and pipe detector
• Long spirit level
• Stud detector
• Appropriate fixings
• Pencil

Step by step

1. Decide the shelf heights and mark them on the wall before drilling anything.Consider what will go on each shelf. Books need less height than you think; box files need more.
2. Scan for cables and pipes across the whole area.Scan wider than the shelving. Check above and beside sockets particularly carefully.
3. Find the studs if it is a plasterboard wall.A fixing into a stud is far stronger than any anchor. Studs are usually at 400mm or 600mm centres.
4. Fix the first upright or bracket, checking it is plumb with a long level.Everything else references this. Time spent here saves correcting the whole run later.
5. Use the first upright to set the height of the second, using a level across a shelf.Do not measure from the floor or ceiling — neither is likely to be level.
6. Space brackets no more than 600mm apart, closer for heavy loads.Around 450mm for books. Wider spacing is the usual cause of sagging shelves.
7. Fit the shelves and check each is level front to back as well as side to side.A shelf level side to side can still slope forwards if the brackets are not seated properly.
8. Load gradually and check nothing moves before trusting it.Push down firmly at the outer end of each shelf — that is where leverage on the fixings is highest.

Tips

• Shelf material matters for sag: 18mm ply or solid timber sags far less than 15mm MDF over the same span.
• For a heavily loaded run, a vertical support at the midpoint transforms the load capacity for very little extra work.
• Adjustable shelving systems with slotted uprights are much easier to get right than individual brackets, and let you change heights later.

Common mistakes

• Measuring each shelf from the floor — Floors are rarely level, so the shelves end up parallel to the floor rather than to each other.
• Brackets too far apart — The shelf sags in the middle under load, permanently.
• Plastic plugs in plasterboard — They pull out under load. Use hollow-wall anchors, or better, fix into studs.

Questions people ask