Put a pole in my living room.

March 3, 2009 1:31 PM

How do I DIY-up a pole-mounted shelving system like this?

I have a lot of books. I have big blank walls and an awkwardly long, narrow room. I need seriously low-profile (like 8-10" deep) shelves that will leave no mark on the walls. So pole-mounted shelving that relies on tension between floor and ceiling is pretty perfect. Unfortunately, the aforementioned Rakks system is pricey when you're talking a lot of square feet. Lower-cost options are ugly and flimsy-looking. Can I build something like this for relatively less? I only want shelves, no cabinets, and I'm thinking that if I don't need to spend $80 a pop for poles and shelves, I could get real wood and sturdy materials that were both strong and good-looking.

I know I can rig up compression poles with levelers and pipe, but where can I get long poles that will work with standards or brackets on either side, so they sit in the middle of the boards, like these? I want it to be adjustable, so I'm planning a system that uses separate boards rather than long boards with holes drilled through for the pole (such as the zero point shelf). And oh, right...I have no serious metal or wood tools, or experience. I'm pretty handy, though.

Basically, I think I need ideas on combinations of hardware that might be able to do this, and what they're called. I'm planning to just go to the hardware store and walk around and get ideas, but starting points would be helpful. If you have advice on structural integrity or general tips, that would be great too - though I get the basic physics of the thing (weight rests on the floor and the wall, load should be at the rear), I really don't know what I'm doing.

Or is this super over-ambitious?

posted by peachfuzz to home & garden (10 comments total)

That links to a teak and walnut credenza, FYI
posted by RustyBrooks at 1:40 PM on March 3

The link doesn't seem to go to what you are describing, so it is hard to know exactly what you are looking at. If you don't have any serious tools or experience, this may be a project too big to handle. Do you have a workshop space, or were you going to try to put this together in your living room?

I am a little unsure as to why a simple bookcase wouldn't work? If you are looking to build something that requires tension from floor to ceiling, you could simply build a bookcase that is exactly the same height as the room, put it together in the correct place, and if needed, put something between the top of the case and ceiling to add some pressure, which would keep it from moving. One simple L bracket would also securely attach it to the wall (which goes against what you were looking for, but would be an easy patch, and most landlords would allow that type of thing if you asked).

As for building a standard bookshelf, almost every lumber yard will cut the wood for you, so you just need to come in with your dimensions, tell them what you need, and they will get you the pieces in the correct size. Bring them home, assemble with a little drilling or with brackets, apply some paint or finish, and you can have something that is completely functional for very little money.
posted by markblasco at 2:27 PM on March 3

In the Instructables page you linked to, the writer used plain-old 1" diameter pipe and wall flanges. Any hardware store will have that stuff.

Finding vertical members that will let you directly mount shelf standards…I can't imagine. I think I've seen box-section pipe relieved with holes, but I don't know where you'd get it.

You could use ordinary shelf standards with regular pipe. Lay the standard over the pipe and mark your screw-holes. I'd recommend laying out the adjustable ends of the poles at the top and the standards below. Drill and tap the pipe (taps are about $10 and can be driven by hand), and screw the standards into the pipes with machine screws. Or use self-tapping screws. As long as everything lines up true, I imagine it would work OK. You will almost definitely need a drill press to drill into 1" pipe (hand drills wander on convex surfaces). Set it on low speed. You can get a serviceable drill press from Harbor Freight for about $50.

Also, not for nothing, Elfa sells freestanding shelf components where you can hang shelves on both sides.
posted by adamrice at 2:46 PM on March 3

A few years ago Ikea had tension bars with holes available for receiving a variety of hooks and arms generally for garage use. We used it as a bike rack at the time. If they still have it this would be perfect for the uprights, but you'll need to work out your own horizontal shelf part.
posted by odinsdream at 2:58 PM on March 3

whooops. I meant to link to this, sorry!
posted by peachfuzz at 3:38 PM on March 3

ugh, seriously. ACTUAL REAL NOT WRONG LINK to Rakks pole-mounted shelving here.
posted by peachfuzz at 3:39 PM on March 3

I'd probably try to spring for the IKEA solution, because I wouldn't save enough money to make the time I'd spend making a solution worthwhile.

I'd use pipe clamps with 3/4 inch pipe to support boards (1x12 unless your span is long) with notches in the end. You could use one pipe clamp turned backwards as a spreader, and the cam half (the sliding jaw that doesn't require threading) of other clamps to use to support the boards from underneath. With a narrow shelf and careful notching of the boards (don't leave wiggle room), you can get away with a single pole each end without appreciable twisting. Pipe clamps are pretty cheap if you get the cheap Chinese imports at somewhere like Harbor Freight.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 4:10 PM on March 3

I tried this a number of years ago. I was not pleased with the result and replaced them, but your miles may, indeed, vary.

I bought the lumber (1"x8"x12'), had it cut to uniform lengths of three feet, then with a spade bit on my drill, put 3/4-inch holes in all the boards at the same place on each end of the three-foot length. My 'poles' were a type of electrical conduit called EMT that can be bought fairly cheaply. I threaded the ENT through the boards, using hose clamps around a couple of beads of duct tape (for grip) to support the boards. I then attached EMT 90° fittings and three-foot spans of conduit to the two horizontal poles and created a rigid square of EMT, and leaned that structure gently toward the walls while putting rubber feet on the bottom, using various conduit fittings to actually attach the top to the wall. The only marks are where the two poles' fittings are attached to the studs - no other marks on the walls.

The clamps stayed in place, supported the shelves and I was able to have adjustable-height shelves with nothing but wooden shelves and pipe. I eventually replaced them, though, because the shelves would wobble a bit on the z-axis, though on the x and y axes, it was a solid design. They also looked rather natty in a 1960's Scandinavian sort of way, but I've since replaced them with a more aesthetically pleasing design that I explained how to build in another AskMe, and might serve you well in this instance. I've revisited the design a couple of times in my mind, realizing that I probably could have done the whole thing in PVC instead of metal conduit and it would've held just fine, and been loads cheaper, but I've never been able to figure out a sufficiently elegant solution to the z-axis wobble. Which just goes to reinforce the feeling that my gut instinct of concentrating on the humanities was correct, and any leanings to engineering I might have had were just, well, pipe-dreams.

(on preview, what RikiTikiTavi said)
posted by eclectist at 4:42 PM on March 3

I have the Stolmen stuff from Ikea for my TV Stand- not this particular one, but it uses bars that tighten from the bottom to a joist. I screwed mine to the ceiling joists, but I'm sure you might be able to come up with something without screwing.
posted by TuxHeDoh at 7:43 PM on March 3

If you really just want a bunch of shelves that won't leave a mark on your wall, why not just get a bunch of bricks or concrete blocks and some 2x10s?
posted by FlyingMonkey at 4:54 AM on March 7