Shelving max weight advice please

[JimmyJazz]

Hi,

I am new to the forum and this is my first post so hopefully this is the right place. So...

I am planning to completely fill an internal wall (solid brick, plastered; not plasterboard) with shelving for books.

The wall is approx. 3.5 X 2.5m and I intend to use six 2m twin slot bars with 220mm brackets rawl plugged with bloody big screws. I estimate about 1800 paperbacks will fit in the space which is a fair old weight.

There will be no support from the floor, the load will be placed directly on the wall, though I imagine there will be little leverage on the shelves due to the relatively short brackets.

Is this a good idea or will I end up pulling wall down?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[endecotp]

What is the wall made of?

 

[JimmyJazz]

Thanks for getting back to me. It is a plastered brick wall. It is the joining wall in a 1960's terrace.

 

[endecotp]

Maybe a tonne of books? 100 kg per square meter?

To put it in context, this wall may be supporting much of the weight of the roof and the upper floor (depending on which way the joists run).

 

[^woody^]

You'll be ok. Just ensure that the screws go into the brick by 40-50mm in addition to the thickness of plaster.

4.5 or 5mm screws which are nr 10 or 12 in old money

 

[JimmyJazz]

Great stuff, thanks guys. The joists run at a right angle to the wall. I thought it would probably be ok but figured that it was a rather important wall if not!!! Thanks again for your help.

 

[John D v2.0]

To be honest with 2m long wall brackets the weight will be trying to twist the whole wall rather than just one section. If you work out how many kg per metre the wall is and compare with your books, the weight will be pretty close to the wall
Since it's a joining (party) wall it will be twice as thick, so the wall will hardly notice the weight. You can always ask your neighbour if they want shelves on their side too

 

[^woody^]

And fit a smoke alarm, and have a fire extinguisher

 

[Doggit]

You'll need to set the uprights at about 500mm centres for wooden shelves, and maybe 400mm for chipboard shelves. It's not only the wall loading that's the issue, it'll also be sagging of the shelves themselves that needs to be taken into consideration. You want the outer ones to be about 200mm from each end, so you may want 7 or even 8 uprights. You could also think about putting the outer ones at the end of the shelves, and then get book ends that fit the supports.

No 8 plugs and with a 4x60mm screw should be fine as long as everything goes in tight(so go to a 4.5mm if necessary); if it doesn't, then move up to a no 10 (5mm) screw, and the wall will be fine.