By Paul Bianchina
Design and Location
Bookshelf is a pretty generic term-books are only one of a diverse collection of items people store and display on them. So step one is to give some thought to their ultimate use. Also you'll want to consider where the shelves will go and whether they will be freestanding or attached to the wall.
Freestanding shelves-a bookcase as opposed to bookshelves-have the advantage of not doing any damage to the walls and are easy to move between locations. However, they must be completely self-supporting and therefore constructed in much the same manner as a kitchen cabinet or a fine piece of furniture. For most people, built-in bookshelves are more what they have in mind, so look carefully at your needs and the space you want to devote to the project.
Materials and Components
Shelving materials and related components are found in most home centers, lumber yards and woodworking catalogs, so it pays to spend some time browsing through any of these sources before getting too serious about your design.
In its simplest form, you'll find shelving made of coated particleboard that's banded on one or both edges. Coated particleboard, most commonly found in white but also available in almond, gray and other colors, is inexpensive, bright, and easy to maintain. It's especially well suited to bedrooms, where the clean white color blends unobtrusively with the walls.
For those looking for real wood, you'll also find precut shelving in oak, pine, walnut and other woods, both pre-finished and unfinished. From there, you can go the extra mile and make your own, ripping them from either solid lumber or finish-grade plywood.
Once you've selected the material for the shelves, you next want to look at what type of weight the shelving will carry and how you'll support that weight. A ¾-inch thick shelf that's loaded with books will typically span only about two feet or less before it begins to sag. To carry that weight, one alternative is to use shelf supports mounted on the wall behind the shelving-this allows you to install the supports on every wall stud (or every other one), and match the support spacing to the load being supported.
Corbels and shelf standards are two ways to do this. Corbels-individual wood supports that are roughly triangular in shape with a straight or decorative edge, are typically used with single shelf installation. You can use them for multiple shelves as well, but they don't allow for future shelf-spacing adjustments.
For adjustable shelves, the simplest method is to use shelf standards. These are slotted metal channels in a variety of sizes and finishes and are attached directly to the wall studs with screws. The standards have matching shelf supports that snap into the slots at the desired height and your shelves then rest on top of the supports-just match the length of the support to the width of the shelving.
Another alternative, which offers a more finished bookcase appearance, is to add vertical sides at the ends of your shelving and then support your shelves from the ends instead of from behind. To do this, you will first have to reinforce the shelf itself so that it can carry loads over a greater span. This is done by reinforcing the edge of the shelf with a solid strip of wood to increase its load-bearing capacity-typically to about four feet between supports, depending on what you're storing.
Edge reinforcement is usually done with a strip of solid lumber-one-by-two is a fairly common size for this use-attached either to the face of the shelf or underneath it. This edge strip not only reinforces and strengthens the shelf, it also creates a clean, decorative face and covers the cut edge of the shelving, which is especially important with particleboard and plywood.
The two vertical end pieces are then equipped with shelf standards or a series of drilled holes, and small clips or pins fit the standards or holes respectively, allowing a clean, finished appearance and quick adjustment of the shelving. Add a finished back and a fixed top and bottom shelf and you have a set of self-contained bookshelves that can be mounted just about anywhere.
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