Can I mod this furniture the way I want to, or is it a recipe for death?

November 28, 2007 11:15 AM

Can I mod this furniture the way I want to, or is it a recipe for death?

What I want to do is take two of these bookshelves and stack them on top of each other to make one tall shelf. I'd secure it with brackets or something, I assume. (Not that I know how to do that, but logic indicates it should be possible. How do I do that, guys?)

Is this a good idea, or is it hard and/or impossible to make a connection secure enough that the weight of the top shelf and/or the poltergeists that live in my house and move things around will not be able to bring the top shelf crashing down, killing me instantly?

I am aware that other options exist for tall shelving, but I am anal and have figured that this solution precisely fits my number of books to be shelved and my available room space. Besides, it's a good deal and it looks nice.

posted by zadermatermorts to home & garden (12 comments total)

I have a set of similar shelves, and it came with hardware to do exactly what you're talking about. There's actually a mount point on mine to anchor it to a wall or bracket.
posted by boo_radley at 11:24 AM on November 28, 2007

I've seen similar bookshelves which were designed to be stacked with the addition of holes drilled into the top rail/bottom feet and small wood pegs. This assuming the wood of the bookshelves is good enough to take a drill. You'd still want to brace the thing to the wall studs for stability but the pegs will keep the verticals aligned.
posted by jamaro at 11:26 AM on November 28, 2007

The peg (actually dowel) system will work, but you need some tools, specifically a small drill and a bit large enough to drill these holes and a corresponding dowel. I would also suggest bolting them to the wall or you might get crushed.

You can buy this stuff at any Lowes or other big box tool shop.

If you want to get fancy, you could do this without anything showing by sinking some heavy duty lag bolts in your wall at the right spot, then cut off the heads and drill a hole into the book shelf and then it would kind of sit on the heads of the bolt, that combined with the two bookcases attached on the back with brackets could do it.
posted by stormygrey at 11:57 AM on November 28, 2007

Definitely anchor the top section to a stud. It's too tall, on too little surface area, to be stable on its own. Will the back slats sit flush against the wall? If so, you can just drill through a couple of of those and use long screws to tie into the stud.

Other than that, no reason why it shouldn't work.
posted by dogrose at 12:20 PM on November 28, 2007

Bunk beds are stacked upon one another with a simple short steel pin that is let into a hole in the top and bottom of each leg. They are flatter in comparison to their height but if you were to glue the pins in (using a polyurethane glue like gorilla glue) you should be good to go with safety. Mounting any high narrow shelf to the wall is a good idea if your area experiences seismic events or you have children.
posted by Mitheral at 12:30 PM on November 28, 2007

The peg (actually dowel) system will work, but you need some tools, specifically a small drill and a bit large enough to drill these holes and a corresponding dowel.

If you go the DIY route, I would also suggest making a little jig so that you can properly align the dowel/holes.
posted by probablysteve at 12:55 PM on November 28, 2007

You may need to consider putting a back on the shelves for stability, in addition to strapping the top and bottom shelves to the wall. Masonite would work, and isn't expensive.
posted by theora55 at 1:20 PM on November 28, 2007

Assuming you are not just stacking them to leave them empty, then filled with books I doubt that the bottom shelf will be able to support the weight of the two above it. If you leave a small penny gap between each bookcase before mounting them to wall studs then it might work although I still would not fill them to the brim with encyclopedia sets.
posted by JJ86 at 2:43 PM on November 28, 2007

Is this a good idea, or is it hard and/or impossible to make a connection secure enough

You could never make it free standing, and in general, those are very tall and skinny for stacking.

Against a wall.. You'd add brackets to the legs to keep them aligned, so the weight is carried down to the floor, but you would also screw the back legs to the wall in several places. It would have to be very secure, so that a heavy person bumping into it would not shift the shelves at all. Three or more screws per side, and all hitting studs in the wall, maybe, but there are lots of possibilities here.
(on preview, the dowel with glue sounds good, and it will look nicer. the straight version of these brackets, available at any hardware store, will do a good job of fixing the legs to each other. Mounting the brackets with bolts all the way through the legs will be much less likely to split the wood and/or pull out - fixed that for me :P)

Away from a wall.. You might be able to suspend it with cables from the ceiling. You'd have to bear all of the weight from the ceiling to make it safe. Actually, I dunno, a lot of care and consideration would be required..
posted by Chuckles at 5:18 PM on November 28, 2007

Chuckles has it mostly regarding stability of a free standing unit. Most tall pre-fab bookshelves include a goofy strap or bracket which is meant to secure it to the wall.

At this point you're looking more at constructing a wall-mounted unit than you are some sort of double-decker bookcase.

Some things to keep in mind: your walls may not be square, or flat, this will complicate mounting. Also, if you have baseboard it'll help if you can "notch out" the bottom of the shelf to fit over it and snug to the wall.

Lastly, you should probably just consider sturdy, wall-mounted shelves, rather than stacking bookcases.
posted by wfrgms at 5:55 PM on November 28, 2007

Two of the shelves are fixed in each bookcase while two are adjustable. These are usually the top and bottom shelves. Using the pin method described above or using repair straps that you screw in on the inside of each leg will leave this narrow shelf in the middle. Without knowing the dimensions, I don't know if this will be usable space for you.

You may also want to shim the front legs so the extended bookshelf lean towards the wall and use a securing strap to anchor it to prevent tipping as was also suggested.

Heavy volumes should go on the bottom shelves, lighter books on the top shelves.
posted by Kioki-Silver at 6:17 PM on November 28, 2007

If you decide to go forward with this be careful not to drill out out too much of the upright. I'd recommend just drilling a 1/4" hole an inch or so deep and putting a short piece of steel rod in there.

American Woodworker (I think) has done a couple articles where they made a bunch of joints of various types (dovetails, mortise and tenons, dowel joints, etc.) and then smashed them with a hydraulic press recording how much pressure it took to break them. Lots of examples of cases where people tend to make X beefy because it looks weak, resulting in Y failing.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:22 PM on November 28, 2007