I have a mattress standing waiting council collection on Thursday which is currently in my living room which my cat Millie thinks is a fantastic place to lie and watch the world go by. So I thought I might put up a shelf for her to lie on and a a couple of others to enable her to reach it. Pretty much got all the components, nice bit of MDF, some carpet underlay and stuff I can use for a covering. What I don't have and the reason for the thread is brackets. Ideally I would like them to be hidden as in Amazon but I am concerned by A) will they hold the weight of a 5Kg cat laying on a MDF shelf around 70cm long x 28cm wide and thickness is only 18mm. The shelves to give her access (2) would not be as big of course but might need to take her weight on her way down. Or is there some other neat way of supporting the main shelf?
A floating shelf bracket looks like it should do the job. Is it going into woodwork, masonry or plaster board?
Actually got them, but the next size up, in my basket on Amazon but I am not happy with A) the length as I would have preferred them to have gone a little deeper into the shelf and B) drilling a 14mm hole will only leave 2mm top and bottom of bracket which seems a bit less than I would be comfortable with.
I have done a few, Using Ikea floating shelves. I have used anchor bolts that will support upto 10kg on plasterboard to be sure. and its working perfectly. The bolts i Got from B&Q and work like a treat.
As I have said I have pretty much got all I need to make these things up so not really looking to go to the expense of buying shelving. I think I have got around the lack of thickness on top and bottom of brackets by adding a layer of hardboard on the top and bottom of the MDF, gluing and stapling it which has added a bit more thickness and of course more strength. Just in the process of covering the main shelf hoping I have enough decorative upholstery nails left I bought recently for another project.
Could you not get a cheap off-cut of 25mm? Wickes, B&Q or Homebase might have some going begging if you ask nicely.
Thought about that but as I don't have the transport and these places are all a fair bit from me it was not viable. I think the hardboard lining top and bottom should be OK.
She is not a radiator type of cat, perhaps this is because she has a very thick coat so not keen on the beat from one. Plus the shelves are more if a height thing, well the top one anyway, as she does tend to enjoy looking down on her servants.
After trying to drill 3 straight holes 14mm x 165mm long in the edge of a 120mm board and failing miserably I have just bought two sheets of MDF which I will glue and screw giving me a far thicker edge to deal with. Plus I have bought myself something I have been promising myself for years a Black&Decker workbench I will hopefully make a better job of the hole drilling.
