Shelves Add Order To Your Life

March 22, 1986|By Tom Schneider, Special to The Sentinel

Packing your belongings and going through a big move is a stressful experience. It's natural that once you land, and have all your boxed belongings under your new roof, you may take your time unpacking.

But if, initially, this seems the easy way out, it can develop its own stressful aspect, especially when you have to digdig through stacks of boxes to find things you need.

Shelves are the answer. Even temporary, cheap and quickly built shelves will get the boxes up where air can circulate around them, and where you can get into any one box without moving the whole pile.

Several hardware store items can make shelf-building a manageable task for anyone who ranks only a grade or two above novice woodworker.

First item that may attract your eye is a ''zig-zag shelf bracket'' (Illustration 1). The price is the main draw. One of these stamped, galvanized metal brackets will support the middle, or an end, of three stacked shelves, and for just a dollar.

Your happiness over the money saved may evaporate, however, when you start to install these things. They are unwieldy to handle and have sharp edges. You may need to file the edges or wear gloves. If you don't slow down enough to file the edges, you run the risk of cutting yourself whenever you're plucking things from the shelves.

If you are fussy about having the shelves square in all directions, these brackets can be frustrating.

The trick to a reasonably neat job is to measure the brackets carefully, mark the wall, and then force the brackets to conform to the measured positions. For example, use a 12-inch tile floor as a guide to true-up the brackets, and then measured the distance between wall contact points. Those measurements will be as in Illustration 1. Transfer these marks to the wall.

Important note: These brackets predetermine the vertical spacing between shelves. It will be about 12 inches. Measure your boxes to determine if this spacing is adequate.

Standard boxes available from U-Haul, Sears, and the post office are ''file-size'' boxes with lids measure 16 1/2-inches long by 12 1/2-inches wide by 10 1/2-inches high. They will fit sideways on a 1-by-12 shelf.

Since the diagonal brace of these zig-zag brackets passes through the shelf space, it's necessary to space the brackets according to the dimensions of the boxes (Illustration 2).

The cheap and dirty way to fasten the brackets is to nail them. But not if you want to, or have to, remove them when you move. If that's a consideration, use screws. Only one or two screws at each intersection, please. No need to fill all the holes stamped in the brackets.

If you're fastening shelves to studs (a good idea for strength), the stud spacing will overrule any other consideration for positioning the brackets.

Since two sideways boxes will only clear brackets placed on about 34-inch centers (Illustration 2) and standard stud spacing calls for brackets every 32-inches (one on every other stud), there is a problem.

This is where individual steel shelf brackets come in. They cost more than zig-zag brackets, about $1 to $1.50 per support for the 10- by 12-inch size. (The longer leg goes along the wall.)

These brackets hardly intrude on shelf space, so they can be aligned with studs regardless of box dimensions (Illustration 3).

They are also less hassle to install. As with the others, you need a level line on the wall where each shelf is to go. The vertical spacing is not restricted by these brackets.

Hold one bracket in position under the line, and mark the topmost hole. Move the bracket aside as you drill a hole with a screw-pilot bit appropriate to the screw size you're using.

(I suggest 1 1/2-inch to 2-inch by No. 10.) Put the bracket back on the mark and drive a screw almost, but not, tight. Now, with the bracket held vertical, mark the other two holes. Swing the bracket aside and drill the remaining holes. Repeat for the other brackets.

Use 1-by-12 or 1-by-14 knotty pine as your shelving. You can keep it from bouncing around by tacking it with just one small screw or nail through each bracket into the bottom of the shelf.

Make sure the boxes are well labeled, put them on the shelves and just wish the rest of your life were as neatly organized.

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