Shelf space takes up little floor room

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 9

Shelf space takes up little floor room

Shelf space for books and magazines is always useful in the house, and this particular unit holds a lot but takes up little floor space. Easy to make, it provides about 3.5 m of shelf space, using 2cm thick chip board, either plain or timber veneered. The main frame consists of two sides and the top and bottom. They are butt-jointed. The five shelves are fixed in shallow grooves cut in the sides. The main unit stands on a recessed kickboard base. The pieces of chip board for the main unit may be about 15cm wide. The sides are 1.95 m (6ft 4.|in) long, the top and bottom are 63.5 cm (2ft lin) long, and the shelves are 58.4 cm (Ift Ilin) long. Put all the sizes accura-

tely to size, making sure that their ends are square. The sketch shows the positions of the shelves. The distances are from the centres of the shelves. Mark the positions of the shelves on the side pieces, and cut 6mm deep grooves on the inside faces of the sides. Join all the pieces together with glue and nails, making sure that the unit is square. Punch the nails slightly below the surface. Cut a piece of three-ply or hardboard for the back, and nail it on with brads. Nail it to the shelves as well as the main frame of the unit.

To give the unit a neat appearance, cut four pieces of one inch wide flat moulding and nail them to the front edges of the main frame so that they are flush on the outside. Cut the ends of the moulding at 45 degrees to make neat mitred corners, and fix it with brads. The kickboard base can be made from chip board also, or from timber. It consists of four pieces — the front, back and two sides — the same width as the skirting board at the bottom of the wall. Fix the completed unit to the wall with screws

driven through the back into wall stud, or with toggle bolts if the studs are not in a convenient position. Of course, prefabricated wood shelving systems are now available for use in the home, office or warehouse. They are versatile and easy to erect for any requirements.

For instance, Lundia shelving, of Swedish design, provides a combination of timber and steel for strong shelving

of all purposes. The distributed load capacity of each shelf exceeds 220 kg. To accommodate changing loads, such shelves can be individually adjusted by repositioning the shelf support pins in holes drilled at 51mm intervals in the upright stiles. The holes can also be drilled at 25.5 mm intervals if required. This type of shelving can be set up in freestanding units, runs, islands or placed back-to-back for storage in depth. It can also be combined with other units, or dismantled and stored away for future use.