Building bookshelves

[jim0203]

I've spent the past few months getting my flat renovated, and would now like to build some bookshelves across two of the walls in my living room, and around the corner that joins these walls.

The walls are each around 3000mm long, and the ceiling height is 2700mm. I have a corner sofa that runs along the walls, and I'd like the bookshelves to only cover the area of the walls above the sofa. One of the walls is an old lathe and plaster with stone behind it; the other wall is brick.

What's the best way to build these shelves? I have some timber that's been removed from my flat during the renovation that I'd like to use, but I don't mind buying new materials if necessary.

 

[big-all]

books are extremely heavy so hanging a lot off weight off the wall may cause problems

shelves above a sofa need to be spaced high enough to stop people banging there head when sitting down

my suggestion would be start on one wall make units around 1m or 1/3 room width
i also suggest you make each unit from 2 sections with the top section being about 3" shallower for smaller books
bottom around 8.5" top around 5.75"

 

[jim0203]

Thanks

Splitting the shelves into three separate units seems like a good idea. Will make sure they're spaced high enough to be clear of heads and space them to allow for different heights of books.

My next question is, how do I fix these to the wall so that the fixings can take the weight of the books? I'd like to have the sofas pushed back as near as possible to the wall, so the floor won't be taking any of the weight.

 

[big-all]

when i make bookshelves i have a one to 1.5degree slope so the units tend to lean back slightly
never build a single unit with less than 3" gap to the ceiling otherwise you will never get it in or out

get somone six foot tall to sit on the sofa and see how much clearance you need to give at least 2" clear