ejt

Fallen Shelf

Wanted to ask a question about putting up wall shelves. A few weeks ago we put up a wall shelf but after about two weeks accidentally knocked it down. The brackets, screws and anchors fell out of the wall. Is it okay to reinstall the shelf in the same holes using larger anchors? Or will it be too weak in that area to hold the shelf again? The wall is a hollow dry wall and the shelf is to hold speakers and pictures which are about 15-20lbs in weight. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Trying2Help

How long in the self? You have quite a few options, depending on what you would LIKE to do.
If the shelf is long enough, 18 to 26 inches, you could relocate the brackets so they match up with the studs in the wall. This would allow you to put long enough screws in the brackets to be anchored in a stud... the shelf is going no where.
You can reuse the same holes, I would recommend useing a "butterfly" or molly screw type anchor. This would spread the wieght of the shelf out a bit and prevent it from pulling out of the wall again.
If none of this sounds like you cup of tea, post back and we can go over more methods.

ejt

shelf is currently up

I finally did get around to putting up that shelf, so my apologies for taking quite a while to reply! We had many screw fitting problems along the way. We tried the butterfly clips but found out quite quickly that the wall is hollow, but only up to a certain point, so the butterfly clips were too long (not only were the screws too long, but the clip itself would not have room to expand out). We would have tried smaller ones but the hole in the shelf bracket was too large. We tried metal anchors but the head of the screw also was too narrow for the shelf. So we decided to go back to square one. We filled up the holes in the wall and started over, moving the shelf slightly down. We used the largest plastic anchors we could find and used more of them. So far it has been holding [fingers crossed], though still a little worried about coming home and finding it on the ground! Many thanks for all your help.

Red68Ranger

Re: shelf is currently up

"We used the largest plastic anchors we could find and used more of them. So far it has been holding [fingers crossed], though still a little worried about coming home and finding it on the ground! "

It'll come down sooner or later if you've used most anything to support it except screws that go into the studs. Drywall is just too soft to hold up under any appreciable load. I can't figure out why they even make those plastic screw in things (moly-bolts?) and the bigger the expansion bolt you use, the bigger the hole that's left when it comes down. DB

ejt

shelf coming down?

Hi Red2Ranger,

I'm not really sure what you mean? If you could explain your other option that would be great.

Thanks!

bungalow jeff

Any shelf holding more than a knick knack collection should be mounted directly onto the studs.

Red68Ranger

Re: shelf coming down?

Originally posted by ejt
Hi Red2Ranger,

I'm not really sure what you mean? If you could explain your other option that would be great.

Thanks!

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The only approach I recommend is as Jeff said above, mount the shelf to the studs. DB