Carpentry is a no joke and not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re willing to do everything by the book, you might be able to land it successfully without professional help. Especially, if it comes to attaching closet shelves to the wall. With the right tools and the right measurement, the job is not harder than assembling a model train. And assembling model trains isn’t difficult.
Pretend you just bought some new furniture from Ikea; and below we have the instruction manual. So off we go then!
The Big Plan
Yes, when it comes to crucial craft like carpentry, planning out the whole thing properly beforehand is essential. It’s not just stacking some rectangular wood pieces in parallel, is it? No! The location, the space, how you want your closet to look like, shelves placement – you have to bring all the loose ends at one place and tie them altogether; hence, the plan.
So, at first, decide the location of the closet. Observe all the space you’ll be getting for attaching the shelves. This will help you decide how you want to place the shelves, and if you want to leave some space for drawers as well. The space speculation is also required for accurate measurements of the shelf pieces.
All the Things You’ll Need
Once you’re done with planning, it’s time to start collecting things, measuring, sawing, and mounting. In order to do so, you’ll need:
- Measuring Tape or Scale: For measuring the space and deciding on the size of the shelves you’ll be attaching. Will be needed for trimming and shaping as well.
- Pencil: For drawing lines and marking.
- Your Choice of Material: Popular choice has always been plywood or wood. Most people these days go with plywood because of its comparative lightweight. Or you can go with MDF; similar to plywood, but more durable and with a smoother surface. However, for support, we’d suggest you go with solid wood bits.
- Saw: For chopping and trimming the pieces you’ll be using.
- Sandpaper: To smoothen out the edges.
- Stud finder: For detecting the studs as they’re behind the walls.
- Drill bit: To drill into the wall.
- Screwdriver: Needed for tightening the screws afterwards.
- Screw: To attach the shelves and the support.
- Anchor: To hold the screws in their places.
You’ve all the things you need; now it’s time for some CARPENTRY DIY!
How to Attach the Shelves Step by Step
Step One: Start Measuring
Take the tape or scale, and measure the space to find out shelves of what size would fit into the closet. Also, you must figure out beforehand how much distance you want between the shelves.
The distance between the supports has to be fixed as well, depending on the purpose of the shelves you’re attaching. Based on the estimated possible load, the supports should always be placed maintaining a convenient distance to keep the shelf from bending or splitting in the middle.
Here’s one thing, if you’re planning to have a bit space for stacking stuff vertically, hanging, and drawers; measurements for these parts have to be planned and measured in advanced. And you should take care of that deal before focusing on shelf placement. Moving on!
Step Two: Locate the Studs
In order to attach the shelves, you have to locate the studs as the screws will be going into those studs. Since they’re behind the walls and not visible from your end, locate the studs using a stud finder. Make sure the locations of the stud match the measurements you did for your shelves.
Step Three: Mark with Pencil
All the measurement you made and studs you located, mark everything using a pencil. Draw lines on the wood/plywood/MDF pieces according to your measurements, so that you don’t mess up the shapes and sizes later. One mistake will ruin the whole project for you, and this is obviously why you’re not here.
Step Four: Shape the Pieces
Take the saw and start chopping the material you collected. Trim the sides and shape the whole shelf piece using a circular saw afterwards. Smoothen out the edges and fix the shapes with sandpaper.
Step Five: Poke Holes and Mount the Support
It’s time to drill through the previously marked stud locations using the drill bit. After poking holes into the studs, place the anchors onto those holes, and respectively, take the screwdriver and fix the screws into the anchors, and mount the supports to the wall with those screws.
Step Six: Place the Shelve
And here’s the final step. Once the supports are fixed to the wall, carefully place the shelves over the support.
There you go! Shelves are all attached to the closet walls! And that also without getting any professional help!