hanging pantry shelves on steel studs


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Old 10-19-06, 09:17 AM
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hanging pantry shelves on steel studs

I have a mother-in-law problem that I'm hoping someone can help with ...

My mother-in-law just had a remodelling done, apparently with the "cheapest" contractors. Among many other problems, I wanted to help with her new pantry. When they framed it up, they used steel studs, spaced so there is one in the center. Then they installed 18" deep modular shelving on vertical supports. The problem is the two verticals are too far apart so the shelves sag. My mother-in-law does not want to spend the money to put a third vertical in the center. I have no idea what thickness of sheetrock they used.

How can I provide enough support so the shelves do not sag?
- I can move the two verticals in a few inches, but then they are just on sheetrock. There are several holes for fasteners, but what fasteners might hold? A set of pantry shelves can get awfully heavy: any ideas how heavy? Any idea if sheetrock can stand up to that (assume the thinnest)?
- What fasteners are good for metal studs? Can I expect them to actually hold the weight?
- The mother-in-law picked up concrete anchors: will they hold in metal studs?

The only thing I could come up with was attaching some 1x4's as furring strips horizontally. They could be attached to the metal studs and provide better support for the verticals at any spacing. Any comments on this plan, ideas for fasteners, or alternate plans?
 
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Old 10-20-06, 05:21 AM
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Not sure what modular shelving is, except for the metal ones. If you could post a pix of what you have, maybe we can get a good solution thread going. Use a posting site such as Photobucket and give us the URL, and we'll post back.
 
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Old 10-20-06, 06:57 AM
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no pictures

Sorry, I can't provide pictures, since she lives in another state. One of the difficulties is trying to make sure I have everything I need to be able to help in a spare hour or two on a future visit.

"Modular" may not have been a useful descriptive word. Yes, these are steel shelves. There are two steel vertical bars attached to the wall, with double rows of slots. There are steel shelf supports that just slide into the slots at whatever height you like. Finally there are 18" deep wire shelves cut to length to fit the width of the pantry/closet.

Editted to add URL:
They look something like these ...
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/product.jsp?pn=100021182
(as a side note, they appear to be offered in the doityourself.com shops as well, but the link is not responding)
 
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Old 10-20-06, 08:00 AM
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Wink

Finally there are 18" deep wire shelves cut to length to fit the width of the pantry/closet.

Id say go to home depot or lowes They both have what you need to hang the shelf on the drywall or steel studs and a brace arm for it also. They are hooks like made out of plastic. They will hold anything you can put on the shelfs

ED ;
 
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Old 10-20-06, 08:14 AM
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Shelves

How wide are the shelves?

It sounds like you need at least one more vertical support and shelf brackets. A vertical support long enough to rest on the floor would support more weight.
 
 

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