DIY basics: putting up shelves

Published: 16th October 2009

After moving into a new home and assessing the amount of space available, often the first thing you want to do is to put up some shelves. In the kitchen, shelves are invaluable places to store ingredients, jars and other cooking items, which would otherwise clutter up your work surfaces. Therefore, the last thing you need is for the shelf to be uneven, so that everything comes crashing down onto your beautiful new floor tiles.

However, although shelves need to be secure and level, you don’t always need a professional or a handy neighbour to help you put them up. By being precise and taking your time, you can easily do it yourself. By following this advice, your shelves will definitely stay up longer than 5 minutes!

First of all, you need to choose the material for your shelves carefully. If you are using wood, make sure you choose a type which is firm and thick enough but also easy to work with, such as MDF.

Next, if you are putting up a type of shelf which uses brackets to fix it to the wall, you need to measure out and lightly mark where the brackets will go. Use a spirit or laser level to make sure that the brackets are vertically level and then drill, plug and screw them in. For kitchen shelves, you may find that you need to drill through ceramic tiles; in this case, invest in a special drill bit or seek professional assistance.

Finally, if you have measured accurately, then all you need to do next is to lay the shelf on top and secure it with the screws. Voila!

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