Shelving advice

[Wolfywolf]

I would like to replace some shelving I put in a few years ago that is now splitting and sagging over.. I don't have much building experience or tools (still don't, so keep that in mind). I had just gone to Home Depot and gotten some wood boards and screwed them into the fence. Didn't treat them or anything. This time I would like to do a better job and am looking for anyway I could accomplish this and have them last longer/not warp or split. Whether that's using a new material that is weather resistant or what doesn't matter. I would have put brackets but as you can see there's nowhere to put them on the fence. Looking for ease of installation and durability. Any help much appreciated

 

[Doggit]

Use a hanging basket on the post as an additional support, and cut a notch out of the board so that it still recesses into the fence. Get some pretreated (tantalised) board from your local woodyard, and use decking screws that won't rust.

 

[lostinthelight]

You could easily fix a triangle of ply or lumber stay under the shelf and into the side of the fence posts to give it better support?
litl

 

[John D v2.0]

You should avoid having any flat surfaces that water would pool on, ideally 1 in 40 fall would be needed on the shelves, which ironically is one of your complaints but could be helping!
Regarding the stability you could add some blocks to the fence posts 50mm below the shelves and put cross pieces from one block to the next to support the front edge of the shelves. But there are many ways to do it if you don't like that method.

 

[sky_bum]

It seems the weight of the pots has allowed water wear the wood sooner rather than later so you're right in looking to support the shelves. I would:
a) as John said, ensure water does not pool on top of the wood by slightly sloping it.
b) support the wood using a bracket on the bottom (metal brackets would be best and easiest if you have no tools) or by running some metal wires from the side of the shelf to a screw above the shelf (though you'd need to get the tension right and roughly equal so you don't torque the plank).
c) waterproof the wood using something like oil or similar treatment. If you cut any pretreated wood, you're likely to break the protection and would need to reapply the (same) treatment.
d) finely sand the wood so that any nooks in the surface of the wood are too small for water to get in - think something like 80grit then 240 then 400 then 600 then 1200. This will likely not work if the wood is torqued (e.g. by not supporting the wood or running way more tension in a supporting wire than the rest).


HTH,
A

 

[Wolfywolf]

Thanks for all the replies.. got an idea of what to do