Build a better bookshelf
This may be your year to expand your concept of book shelving beyond the concrete blocks and boards cherished during your student days.
The basic requirement for a bookshelf inside yours home is that the shelving material and its supports be strong enough to bear the weight of your books. The thinner and less rigid the shelf material, the closer together the support must be, (needs a home improvement).
Popular shelving material includes lumber, plywood, particle board, and hard board. To test how far a shelf will span and how much weight it will hold without bowing, support the end with a couple of chairs and load it with the weight it will have to hold. If it bows select a thicker material or add a support in the center. Remember too, that some books are heavier than other. Finally consider whether you want permanent shelves or adjustable ones, a freestanding system or shelves attached to the wall. Freestanding bookcase can double as room dividers, attached shelving systems tend to look like part of the architecture.
The bookshelves on these pages are slightly more complicated than blocks and boards. For additional ideas and how to information, see the Sunset book How to Make Bookshelves and Cabinets.
Stepladders and boards
If stacking boards on concrete blocks is the zenith of your building skills, this project is for you. For the simplest person use the two stepladders with rungs at equal height; paint or finishing the ladders as you like: place them back to back and run shelves through the rungs. Using a single ladder is slightly more complicated –you’ll have to fasten cleats on the side without rungs to support the shelves. For yet another version, fasten two ladders to the wall, then run shelves trough the rungs.
aluminium towers…
The best quality aluminium towers currently available. See our huge current sale of aluminium scaffold towers….