If your home does not have storage space for any group of items, be it books, work tools, etc., then you probably had to deal with the fact that as their number increased, the apartment gradually began to become cluttered. At first glance, it is quite simple to arrange a storage room or an additional closet, but owners of small-sized apartments do not always have such an opportunity due to the lack of free space. How to organize things in this case? The simplest and most practical solution to this problem would be to create a wooden shelving unit with your own hands. But this is far from the only case when shelving for the home, including wooden ones, can be useful. The use of a rack is appropriate both in the garage, which without proper systematization of the space often turns into a dump of things, and on the balcony, where it will help to place seedlings or indoor plants in the most compact manner. Also, with the help of a rack you can zoning the space. Despite the fact that arranging a rack does not cause difficulties and is accessible even to a beginner, in this article we will tell you in detail how to make a wooden rack with your own hands.
Using shelving: main types
A wooden rack is a spacious structure made of wood, consisting of a large number of shelves, which are mounted on special racks. Moreover, the number of tiers depends only on the individual preferences of the owner. A prefabricated wooden rack can be used to store various items: books, dishes, tools, etc. It will fit perfectly into almost any interior, be it country or classic. The functional purpose of the premises in which a wooden shelving would be appropriate is also diverse.
- They will look most harmonious in a children's room, where, thanks to the presence open shelves, children will be able to conveniently place their toys and subsequently have free access to them;
- The functionality of an office or library can also be expanded with wooden shelving, which can be used to store books, documents and any important small items;
- Often, the rack complements the interior of the kitchen, where some housewives place dishes, cereals or spices that are used daily.
- An integral point of using wooden shelving is their use for arranging indoor plants and seedlings. In this case, you need to know a little trick known to professionals. It is known that most indoor plants, like seedlings, need barely perceptible heating of the soil, which will promote effective growth and vital activity. Modern manufacturers To implement this principle, they offer expensive racks with automation, which can easily be replaced by covering the wooden shelves of the racks with foam plastic. This unique material, being an effective heat insulator, is capable of reflecting thermal radiation, which is formed in moist soil, returning it to the pot and thereby implementing the principle of minimal heating.
Structural types of wooden shelving:
- Stationary rack. Its design is a frame consisting of racks and crossbars, on which a sufficient number of shelves are fixed. To increase the reliability and strength of a stationary wooden rack with your own hands, the photo of which is presented below;
- Mobile racks- a constructive option, most suitable for those who cannot decide on their location. Due to the fact that such racks are equipped with wheels, there is no need to unload the contents while moving them;
- Rotating racks- a design that is suitable for storing various small items needed in the household: spices, dishes, hygiene items used daily;
- Hanging racks- a design that allows you to optimize space and use it rationally in the future. It consists of several shelves combined into a single structure.
Original options for installing wooden shelving
Many people believe that a shelving unit is a rather primitive design, consisting of a rough frame with shelves. However, such options are used mainly on the balcony, basement or garage, where the furniture in use must be durable and practical, while for residential premises experts recommend giving preference to more original designs. For example, a rather nontrivial construction for home interior there will be a rack consisting of a pair of oak boards and several glass bottles, installed as shown in the photo below. And if, at first glance, the structure does not seem stable enough to you, cast aside all doubts and feel free to exploit it to the maximum, storing not only books, but also layouts of collection wines.
No less original are rope racks, for fastening which, unlike traditional frame structures, you only need two hooks on the wall. Of course, you won’t be able to store heavy jars with winter preparations on them, but you can easily arrange photographs, souvenirs, books, dishes and other small items. Rope racks, being temporary structures, can also be used for premises to be renovated. In this case, it is enough to make a structure from scraps of sedges or laminate, attached to a rope suspension. Fastening the structure will be easier if in the room where it will be located there is a heating pipe running under the ceiling - it will be enough to tie a rope to it.
Guided by the following advice, you can make an equally original wooden shelving unit without a back wall, which will be a successful addition to the interior in industrial style. To make it you will need not only wooden boards, but also a couple of water pipes and fittings. It is necessary to pay attention to original way installation of shelves - in this case they are “attached” to the pipes like a children’s pyramid. Thanks to the high rigidity of water pipes reinforced with tees, we were able to eliminate the rear support posts necessary in case of installation of traditional structures.
If you decide to optimize living space in a private house where there is a staircase leading to the second floor, the space under it can be used to arrange a shelving unit, as shown in the photo.
Development of a drawing of a wooden shelving: general requirements
Development of a drawing is an obligatory stage and the key to arranging a convenient and practical rack. To make a drawing in accordance with all the requirements, first of all, you need to accurately measure the place where the rack will subsequently be located. If you plan to use the structure for storing work tools or cans of winter supplies, experts recommend giving preference simple forms. In this case, it will be enough to determine the height of the product, which depends on the height of the room and the individual preferences of the owner. As for installing a wooden rack in the garage with your own hands, it is recommended to do it the full height of the wall. The width of the shelves of the rack depends on what items will be stored on them - to arrange cans or books, shelves 25-40 cm wide are suitable, shelves for storing working tools are mounted taking into account their dimensions. The length of the shelves is another parameter that depends on the purpose of the rack. If shelves 1.5 meters long are suitable for storing toys, figurines and other small items, then for heavy books you need to choose shelves whose length does not exceed 90 cm, which will prevent them from sagging.
To summarize, let's take a quick look general recommendations that must be observed during the development of the drawing:
- The width of the rack is calculated taking into account the free space - its width corresponds to the width of the free space, however, for ease of installation, the resulting figure is reduced by 5-10 cm;
- The width of the shelves should be no more than 1.5 m, which will prevent their deformation;
- As for the depth of the shelves, here the most optimal value is considered 50 cm. If, despite the recommendations of specialists, you increase this figure, be prepared for difficulties to arise when getting items from distant shelves;
- Most optimal height shelves - 30-60 cm, while the bottom shelf may be a little deeper, which is especially important if you plan to store large items on the rack;
- In the process of developing a drawing, it is necessary to make an approximate estimate of the dimensions of the items that will be placed on the shelves of the rack, and taking into account the 10-15 cm gaps necessary for the free placement and removal of items from the rack, calculate the length of its shelves;
- Don’t forget about the rule of rational load distribution. It is preferable to place the heaviest and most bulky items on the lower shelves of the rack, on the middle shelves - objects of medium weight and size, on the top - voluminous but light items (boxes, clothes).
Important! If you are planning to arrange a structure for storing things in a small room, the most suitable option a corner wooden rack will be for you. Its installation involves joining two racks at an angle of 45 degrees, which must be reflected in the drawing.
Materials and tools for making a rack
Before you start making a rack, prepare the necessary materials and tools:
According to experts, in order to make a high-quality rack, it is advisable to use boards from natural wood. The most preferable in this case, there will be pine, oak or mahogany. It is not recommended to use boards made from wood chips, as they are an impractical material with a short service life. When choosing wood for making shelving, it is important to ensure that its moisture content does not exceed 12%. Before making the rack, the material used must be prepared - treated with antiseptic solutions and special impregnations, after which the boards must lie in the room where installation will take place for several days.
In addition to wooden boards, to make a rack you will need the following set of materials and tools:
- shelf holders;
- metal corners;
- wooden blocks that will be used to secure the shelves transversely;
- furniture legs on wheels;
- plywood;
- self-tapping screws;
- wood varnish and brush;
- wood glue;
- electric jigsaw and grinder;
- drill;
- hammer;
- tape measure and pencil, which will be needed for marking.
How to make a wooden rack?
- The first stage of installation activities is the selection of the lower base. To make it, select a thick board (its thickness is selected so that a 3 cm long self-tapping screw fits freely into it). As for the remaining design parameters, the length and width of the board are equal maximum length and the width of the rack, selected by you yourself. At the bottom of the base, in increments of one meter, experts recommend nailing transverse bars, the length of which is equal to their width. This will give the structure additional strength.
- The next step is to work on the side walls of the rack. To reduce the cost of construction, thick plywood can be used instead of boards, marking it so that its width is equal to the width of the base. The height of the plywood is chosen arbitrarily. Having cut out the side walls of the required sizes, make them inside shelf marks. At the same time, remember that most often the height of the shelves is 21 and 42 cm. These two values can be alternated, which will allow you to equip the rack with spacious and, at the same time, neat shelves.
- Next, cut out the wooden shelves. Their length must correspond to the inside of the rack so that they fit tightly and, at the same time, freely into the rack. The width of the shelves corresponds to the depth of the rack. As for the thickness of the shelves, it should be at least 2.5 cm, but experts recommend fixing them with transverse bars, which will give them additional strength. To nail the bars, you can use regular small nails.
- Once you have cut out the shelves, you can begin making the back wall. To simplify the task, experts suggest abandoning the installation of the rear wall, but this is only if you are completely satisfied with the texture and color of the wall to which the rack is adjacent. If mounting the rear wall is necessary, it is cut out of regular plywood in accordance with the dimensions of the rack.
Assembling the rack: step-by-step instructions
- After all the parts have been prepared, it is necessary to proceed to the next important stage of manufacturing a wooden rack - assembling the structure. At this stage it is important to use different kinds fastenings: from wood glue to screws and nails.
- At the first stage, take the lowest shelf, which will be used as a base, and attach the back wall of the rack to it using self-tapping screws. If the design of your wooden shelving for a balcony or other room does not include a back wall, immediately begin working with the side walls. Previously, you have already made markings for attaching the shelves, which will facilitate the subsequent stages of assembling the rack.
- At each of the marks, parallel to each other, it is necessary to attach special metal or plastic (depending on the expected load on the shelves of the rack) holders, on which the shelves will subsequently be placed. Then, using self-tapping screws, the side walls are mounted to the lower base, while maintaining the evenness of all corners. To increase the reliability of the structure, it is recommended to use metal corners as additional fixing elements.
- Above we described one of the common options for mounting shelves. It is not the only one and in terms of its reliability it is inferior to the method that will be discussed below. Another, more thorough method of attaching shelving shelves does not involve installing holders, since the shelves are attached directly to the side walls. First of all, using self-tapping screws, the side walls are mounted to the base. Then, to effectively complete the task, you will need the help of a partner who will place the shelves inside the rack in accordance with the previously made markings, while you attach them to the sides with outside using self-tapping screws. To increase the reliability of fastening, it is advisable to additionally fix the shelves from under the bottom with metal corners. When giving preference to this method of fastening shelves, it is important to remember that, along with greater reliability, it is considered more complex and requires ideal measurements of the length of the shelves. During the installation process, it is important to avoid even minimal distortions, as they can completely ruin the structure of the rack. To prevent this, you must use a building level from the very beginning.
Having prepared the main part of the structure, proceed to attach the cover, which will give the future rack a finished look and prevent dust from getting onto the top shelf. Self-tapping screws are also used in the fastening process.
Another way to increase the reliability of the shelving structure involves coating the holes after drilling with wood glue, which will provide additional strength. It is recommended to use furniture legs on wheels as the legs of the future rack, which will make moving the structure more convenient and, at the same time, will prevent distortions of the rack when exposed to high loads.
If you used chipboard or MDF boards to make the rack, make the finished structure more aesthetically pleasing and complete appearance You can by gluing a melamine film to all ends of the parts, which can be done using a regular iron. The edge is laid on the end, pre-treated with fine-grained sandpaper, and smooth it with a hot iron. If there are any excess edges remaining, they are removed using a utility knife.
To add originality to the rack, some shelves can be closed with doors or even turned into an entire wardrobe. Additional design the shelving, which will give it a decorative effect, can be achieved by painting it with stain or varnish, using decoupage or craquelure. The latter depends only on your imagination and individual preferences.
DIY wooden rack video
In a new review, the author has collected examples of racks and shelves that you can make with your own hands. They must, of course, be used according to direct purpose. Having looked at the photographs collected here, you can easily make sure that there is nothing fundamentally complicated in the proposed option.
1. Circle shaped
An original round shelf, the edging of which is made of thin fiberboard, and the shelves themselves are made of ordinary boards, painted white. Of course, such a design is not suitable for storing the entire home library, but it can accommodate several educational books, a small indoor plant and a couple of framed photographs.
2. Wall shelf
A charming hanging shelf that can be made from a few unwanted books or notepads same size. This shelf is not only suitable for storing cosmetic accessories and small decorative items, but in itself will be a wonderful decoration for any wall.
3. Arrow
A stylish bookshelf in the shape of an arrow with illumination, made from the remains of metal water pipes, will fit perfectly into the interior of a teenage boy’s room or a bachelor’s apartment.
4. Practical and unusual
Original and practical shelf, which can be made from a small tray from an old cart and several wooden blocks. This shelf is reliable and spacious and is suitable for storing a wide variety of things.
5. Charming shelving
A stylish and original shelving unit made from a slightly modified door painted white. Filled with your favorite books, candles, family photos and small decorative elements, such a shelving unit will be a real highlight of any space.
6. Narrow slats
Old skis that have been collecting dust in the closet for many years can be used to create unusual shelves. Such shelves will fit perfectly into the interior of a nursery and are suitable for storing toys and books.
7. Stylish copper
Massive shelves made of wood covered with a stylish copper-colored film are perfect for placing house plants.
8. Old pallet
Old wooden pallet it's enough to just turn it into original shelf for storing magazines and family photos.
9. Industrial style
A stylish storage system in the current industrial style, which can be made from wood or MDF boards, painted in grey colour and interconnected by a structure of metal water pipes.
10. Bright honeycomb
Original shelves made from bright hexagonal gift boxes attached to mirrors of the same shape. Of course, this design is not suitable for storing large, heavy objects, but it is suitable for storing little things that are dear to the heart and decorative items, and will also become a unique wall decoration.
11. Stylish transformation
Drawers an old table, ready to be thrown away, can be used to create original shelves. Carefully painted and modified at your discretion, the drawers can be attached to the wall, both vertically and horizontally, and used to store a wide variety of things.
12. Rough design
Rough shelves made of untreated wood, exposed with varnish or paint, will fit perfectly into the interior of a room decorated in a rustic or country style.
13. Abundance of cells
A huge wall-length shelving unit made from many wooden boxes painted in bright colors, can become a stylish and budget-friendly alternative to a massive store-bought wardrobe.
14. Wicker basket
MDF shelves.
Compact MDF shelves with fruit slices painted underneath them will become a bright and functional decoration of the kitchen wall.
17. Rustic style
A dense piece of bark or raw wood can be turned into a fantastic hanging shelf, which will become an original alternative to the standard bedside table.
In apartments small size I want to use the space in the most functional way; some layouts imply the presence of ledges and niches. You can fill the resulting space using shelving. The design of the shelf frame itself is not that complicated, so it is easy to find instructions in response to a request on how to make a rack with your own hands.
All you need to assemble the structure are materials, tools and some free time. Photos of do-it-yourself shelving will help you decide on the dimensions and options of the shelving, and it will not necessarily be a banal set of boards.
Where to start
Of course, the size of the shelving depends on the available space, but if you are not limited by the existing walls, it is better to build a structure of a certain size. The boards used should be no thinner than 20 millimeters; the width of the shelf depends on what will be stored on it.
For books or flower pots A width of 30 centimeters is quite sufficient; the length of the shelf should not exceed one meter. If the length is longer, the shelf will simply sag under load, and such a product will not have longevity.
If the rack is needed to store tools, tires or something else, the width of the shelf should increase. In addition to the width of the shelf, the need to determine the intended purpose of the structure is necessary to calculate the load on the fasteners.
Lightweight structures are secured using conventional self-tapping screws, but heavier structures require the use of anchors and hooks.
Rack location
The most common location is near a wall or under the stairs. Usually these places are used for functional placement designs. The rack can be up to the ceiling; in this case, access to the shelves is provided by pull-out steps in the form of lower shelves.
No one has canceled the outside help of a stool if you are doing a hanging or ceiling structure rack, be guided by the available stepladders, otherwise you will not be able to fully use your creation.
Angular position of the rack is not less than convenient option, this location makes space that is usually left empty work.
Rack made of metal profile
To collect similar option It is better to use welding, otherwise you will have to resort to using an electric drill. To collect you will need
- electric drill
- chipboard slabs or boards with a thickness of at least thirty millimeters
- profile pipes with a cross-section of twenty-five millimeters
- corners 40 millimeters
Using a drill and pipes, you need to make frames; they need to be leveled using a level. If the thickness of the shelves is sufficient, there is no need to further strengthen the base, but when the load is very large, it is still worth strengthening the base of the shelves with an additional angle of rigidity, simply install the profile fragment in an angular direction.
Wooden rack
The material used is chipboard, boards or slats. If the material is not further processed, it will be useful Sander, roller and brush. Take the necessary measurements at three levels - bottom, top and middle; the walls in houses are not always even, this way you can avoid mismatches.
After taking the measurements, make a drawing; drawings of shelving do not require special skills, just with their presence you will not be mistaken with the dimensions. By required sizes prepare the parts - base, side walls, shelves.
For the base, you should choose a thick board, and then move on to the side walls. So that the cost of the final design does not exceed family budget, the side walls can be made of plywood.
Mark the chipboard sheets according to the width of the base, the length in accordance with the height of the rack. On the inside, mark future shelves in increments of one meter, and the corners will be strengthened with beams.
Now it’s worth taking care of the shelves if you will be storing large items, a full wooden shelf can be replaced with slats; the weight of the storage object in this case should not be very large. It is possible to increase the mass of the possible load due to the same sheets of plywood that are laid on top of the slats.
If a full-fledged board is used for the shelf, its thickness should be two and a half centimeters, the load on such a shelf does not have great restrictions.
The back wall is not required to be installed, it is worn quickly decorative function. If you are satisfied with the appearance of the wall, you do not need to install the back wall. If there is still a need for installation, you can make a wall using a sheet of plywood.
All parts of the future rack are ready and you can proceed to assembly. Install the base to which you attach the side bars. If there is no back wall and the rack is attached to the wall, you can immediately install it to the wall.
Once the frame is assembled, begin installing the shelves. There are two options: either the shelves are attached with self-tapping screws to the side walls, or they are installed on holders. As holders, you can use wooden blocks cut to the width of the side wall.
The instructions on how to properly make a rack are very simple and accessible, as is the material from which it can be made.
Photos of DIY shelving
Why specifically for housewives? Yes, because a real man, the head of the family, he already knows and can do all this. He doesn't need instructions. Maybe he won’t bother with all this antimony at all, but will simply stop by the store on the way from work and buy a ready-made rack. Housewives are also different. Some people have no time at all, or are “not qualified” to do carpentry work. But there are also those for whom it is easier to do it yourself than... well, you understand. In this article I perform three experiments at once. Each is important and interesting in its own way. Want to participate?
We will not only make a rack out of wood
Firstly, I will try to determine for myself whether a housewife can make a shelving unit with her own hands. We will not set any super goals. Our product will modestly stand somewhere in a closet or garage. None of the guests and other honored visitors will most likely even see him. If so, we won't make it super perfect. I will show you what materials and tools will be needed, in what order, and what will need to be done.
As an example, let's take my own product that I built the other day. I'm tired, you know, when there are some boxes and bags everywhere. I wish I could put them somewhere out of sight. And shelves for tools would be nice. In a word, as is usually the case, I tested the technology on myself. Having received a completely acceptable result, I decided to spread the experience.
I’ll say right away that I made it in the shape of the letter “L”, but for simplicity, we will consider building a straight product with a length of 178 cm, a height of 200 cm, and a depth of 60 cm. I’ll tell you why these particular dimensions later.
Secondly, we need to check in reality the popular belief that making a similar thing yourself can be cheaper than buying a ready-made one. For this purpose, I made a special trip to the IKEA and OBI stores again and photographed samples of finished shelving and materials with prices. Having an idea of what and how much we need, we can easily calculate how much such a rack made with our own hands will cost us. So we'll see what comes out cheaper.
Third, I decided, purely for myself, to find out what would happen to the pieces of wood if they were not processed at all, or if they were covered with impregnation or varnish. I specifically selected 8 pieces wooden lining, which remained after the construction of the rack, and treated them with different compounds. Let's see what happens to them over time. Or maybe all these impregnations are a complete scam? We'll talk about this in more detail at the end of the article.
So, we’ve decided on our goals, now let’s go to the store
What kind of racks are sold in stores?
I confess, I didn’t manage to visit all the stores. Therefore, here we will look at examples from the IKEA store (please do not consider this an advertisement, although I really like this store).
First, let's look at products assembled on the basis of metal guides attached to the wall. For example, like this:
As you can see, the entire structure hangs on the wall. There are 3 guides to which brackets are attached, to which shelves, baskets, etc. are in turn attached. The variety of options for hanging elements is simply amazing:
You yourself select the necessary elements, from which you can then make a wardrobe, shelves for a laundry room, or workplace with a table. It would seem that this is the solution. Everything looks very neat, openwork, at any time you can move the shelf higher or lower, if something is missing, you can buy more over time.
Of course this is very good option. Especially for the pantry. I mean, it’s not always possible to put something like this in a room, but in an auxiliary room it’s just right!
Another big advantage of this option: everything you need can actually be purchased in parts, as funds become available. Moreover, it is over time, in the process of use, that an understanding arises that What This is exactly what you need to have on your shelf. Therefore, you can immediately buy only a few basic parts, and buy the rest later, as needed.
Everything is very great. But when I decided to estimate the total amount of the set I needed, it became somehow uncomfortable:
This is exactly what I need - a rack in the shape of the letter "L":
If you have the opportunity to buy such a thing, then you don’t need to read any further. Buy it - great item.
I'm moving to another department where they sell wooden shelving. There are many of them, so I will show only a couple that caught my eye.
Here is an option for 4550 rubles.
The thing is not bad, but the width is too small. I need the entire wall - 187 cm.
Here corner option. Price - 7490 rub.
I don't consider it successful. The shelves are narrow, the side modules are low, and a lot of space above them will remain unused. In addition, the strength of the horizontal corner elements on which the shelves rest is questionable. They do not have a vertical load-bearing support. In my humble opinion, they will collapse if you put something heavier.
Here's a better option:
Price - 4960 rub. The shelves are deep, the whole structure is high enough to optimally use the entire height of the room - 3 meters. The width is just insufficient, but we are not going to buy it. Let's just take this design as a basis. After all, in essence, there is nothing so complicated here. See for yourself:
There are wooden vertical bars, horizontal bars are attached to them, and shelves lie on them. That's all, actually. Of course, the IKEA product will be more neat and functional. After all, any shelf can be rearranged to a different height over time. Fortunately, each of them is attached to the verticals separately:
It would be possible to do this too, but we will simplify the design a little. Ours will not be as universal, but it will be simpler and cheaper.
Well? The idea is clear, let's go collect materials.
What you need to make a shelving unit at home
The very first thing is to decide on the amount of material needed.
In order to build a straight shelving unit (we’ll talk about the L-shape later), we will need:
- 8 vertical supports about two meters long,
- 12 horizontal bars approximately 55 cm long,
- approximately 15 planks 187 cm long (along the length of the wall), which will become shelves (their number depends on the width),
- 16 metal corners with holes,
- 40 screws (you can take more of them, since some will simply get lost during work),
- 60 thin nails for attaching shelf boards,
- a can of wood impregnation (you can get by, but I would recommend),
- can of varnish (optional).
In addition, you will need the following tools:
- hammer,
- screwdriver or screwdriver,
- hacksaw or
- brush.
I want to say right away that the material also varies. For example, you can use these beautiful blocks with rounded corners as vertical stands:
If we built our shelving on them, it would turn out even more beautiful than in IKEA. But the cost of each such two-meter rack would immediately knock us out of budget:
After all, we need 8 pieces (and for me to build an L-shaped rack, I generally need ten). This immediately turns out to be 2792 rubles. Consider that you haven’t bought anything much yet, but the “three rubles” are no longer there. With some regret I had to abandon this beautiful option.
There are even more beautiful materials. For example - installation logs:
Unfortunately, in the photo they turned out unsightly, but in reality they are immaculate dark brown bars covered with some kind of film. Nice to hold. Alas, the price is appropriate:
It would be a pleasure to work with them. And the rack would turn out to be such that it could even be placed in a room. But the price of the product would be too high.
At the other pole there are ordinary unplaned bars with splinters. If we made verticals from them, then we would spend only 440 rubles for all 8 pieces. For all eight! They cost only 55 rubles apiece. Only our rack will look terrible. In principle, it will do for a barn. But for the home pantry... However, it’s up to you, of course, to decide.
Personally, I settled on these bars:
Their price is 105 rubles per piece. Therefore, for 8 pieces you will have to pay 840 rubles. What did you think? We counted if make a rack with your own hands, then it will work out at all for free? Alas, this myth has long been in need of serious rethinking. Of course, you can go to the forest, chop some logs there, and bring them (I wonder what?) at home rip saw cut out perfectly even bars from them... continue further? And what? But it will be free. Especially if the forest rangers don’t catch you :).
Another thing is that there is always a place where you can buy the same thing cheaper. But for free... Let's not talk about it.
The main thing is that when you choose bars, you need to carefully check them:
- for the presence of cracks, they are of no use to you,
- for the presence of large knots - this is a place of potential fracture,
- for straightness
Don't be surprised about the latter. Some of the bars in the store were curved like Robin Hood's bow. Well, maybe not so much, but the curvature was visible to the eye. Therefore, when you choose the bars, each one should be placed on the floor (I hope it is level in the store). First on one side, then on the other. The straighter the workpiece, the less problems during installation. The task is to collect 8 at least relatively straight bars. And be glad that you don’t need eighty of them.
So, we already have our first purchase in our cart.
Now we need to take care of the horizontal bars on which the shelf planks will rest. First you need to think about how deep your shelving will be. For example, I made it 60 cm deep so that I could put it down car tires. Much depends on how much free space available on premises.
You can try to look for blocks of the right size, or you can buy long ones and cut them yourself. It will be cheaper. Let's say, here's a two-meter block
costs only 55 rubles:
It will make 4 magnificent crossbars... Why four, you ask. After all, the stated depth of the rack is 60 cm. If you divide 2 meters by 4, you get 50 cm. I answer: you calculated correctly. But the whole point is how exactly to attach these crossbars. Their length will indeed be 50 cm. But together with the thickness of the vertical bars, the overall depth of the product turns out to be 4.7 + 50 + 4.7 = 59.4 cm. For good measure - 60!
The only exceptions will be the very top crossbars. They will lie directly on the supports from above, so their length will be longer by the width of the supports = almost 60 cm.
Based on this, and taking into account that we are still discussing a straight rack, we will need 4 of the mentioned two-meter bars with a total cost of 220 rubles.
Now we need to take care of the boards for the shelves. The options here may vary. For example, I bought a regular lining for this:
It is clear that one individual plank does not look very durable. To tell the truth, I myself doubted whether the clapboard shelf would withstand heavy loads. Practice has shown that it holds up well. The fact is that each shelf consists of 5 planks, and the distance between the supports is quite small.
Of course, if you stand on such a shelf with your feet, the result will be obvious. But the boxes, bags and other things fit quite well on my finished product. So, feel free to put two packs of wooden lining on your cart. Our check immediately increases by 832 rubles.
Please note, 216 rubles is for square meter. The cost of packaging is 416 rubles. Try to take a lining of such length that there is as little waste as possible. For example, the length of each shelf in my case was 187 cm. Therefore, the 2 meter long lining was best choice. Others had a length of 2.5, 3 meters and were more expensive.
You can take the most common corners:
If you wish, you can buy painted ones:
It may make some sense to buy corners with longer planes. It's not even a matter of greater load-bearing capacity. It will just be more convenient to screw them on. Especially if you are going to do this not with a screwdriver, but with a regular screwdriver.
All of these options are more expensive. Which one to choose is up to you. I bought the cheapest corners for 9 rubles apiece. Later, when I started screwing them in, I was surprised to notice that they, it turns out, had come to my dacha from distant India:
You can’t say anything, this is probably the closest place where they are produced. But now, when one of the guests dares to make some kind of echidna about my product, I will stick such a label directly on his forehead (I didn’t throw them away on purpose) and say that I made the rack from imported components :)
As for the screws, these or a little longer will do:
I didn’t dare take shorter ones - they might not hold the shelf. We will use these screws to fasten vertical posts and horizontal shelf holders using corners.
The nails are needed to secure the lining planks, which will become the surfaces of the shelves. Of course, you can also do this with screws, but there are at least three reasons why I would still recommend nails.
- Hammering a nail is faster than driving a screw. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. It is necessary to make allowances for a crooked hammer and other annoying circumstances.
- If in wooden block screw in 5 screws in a row, it may simply split lengthwise. Nails are thinner than screws and are much less likely to chip. Although, of course, if you try and bang as hard as you can, saying “I’m the strongest,” then anything can happen.
- Nails are cheaper than screws.
True, when comparing the price tags in the photo, you can easily question the last item on the list. I agree, I just couldn’t find a smaller package of nails, and they really are cheaper.
Now we need wood impregnation. If we do not treat it, then over time our product will darken, some bark beetles may attack it, or even rotting processes will begin. So I personally “impregnated” my pieces of wood. Whether you will do the same is up to you. Just in case, I’ll show you an example of impregnation that would suit us:
I confess honestly. I didn't buy this jar. I still have some impregnation left over from my last big story with painting the floor and stairs. By the way, with the help of impregnation you can paint wood in a more dark color. In the previous photo there are two options color solutions. There are others too.
In addition to impregnation, you will need a brush. There is no need to buy anything particularly expensive here. Anything 4-6 cm wide will do. For example, this one:
I can already hear the cries that the price is too high. That the same brush can be bought three times cheaper. Agree. Just be prepared for the fact that the stubble from a cheaper analogue will come out three times faster :). You know how nice it is: you paint with one hand and remove hairs from the surface with the other! Almost a creative process.
On this optimistic note, we finish collecting the material and roll our cart to the checkout. If we take everything to a minimum, then the purchase price is as follows:
- vertical racks - 840 rub.
- horizontal bars - 220 rub.
- lining - 832 rub.
- corners - 144 rub.
- screws - 79 rub.
- nails - 99 rub.
- impregnation - 399 rub.
- brush - 149 rub.
TOTAL: 2762 rub.
Basically, we bought everything we needed. At the same time, the cost was much less than the cost of the smallest rack from the IKEA store.
Let's see what we could make from white metal structures for this amount. Remember what I showed you at the beginning of the article:
Each vertical 192 cm high costs 400 rubles. We need at least three of them for a shelf width of 187 cm; We no longer have 1200 rubles.
Next, you need brackets on which the shelves will be hung. The 58-centimeter ones that suit us cost 200 rubles per pair. In order to make a rack of the same configuration as ours, you will need 5 pairs of brackets with a total cost of 1000 rubles.
In total, we would get a check for 7900 rubles. not counting the fasteners to hang it all on the wall.
It is important to consider one more point. Some walls in apartments and country houses made in such a way that heavy weights cannot be hung on them. They will collapse. And certainly at night, scaring everyone in the household to death. Our rack will stand on the floor. I think this is his big advantage.
Let's start making a rack with our own hands
The first thing to do upon arrival home is to adjust the length of the lining to the length of the future product. In my case, the rack had to stand from wall to wall, therefore, a small extra piece had to be sawed off from each of the 15 planks:
Best suited for this. In its absence, you can use a regular hacksaw for wood. Of course, you will spend longer with it, but you will become stronger and more resilient, and perhaps lose weight. excess weight due to increased physical activity.
Of course, you can paint each piece of wood separately, turning it and carefully painting it on all sides, including the ends. But with such an “individual approach” the work may, to put it mildly, take a little longer. Therefore, I suggest doing the following:
Place several pieces of wood in a row at once (lining or verticals with horizontals) and paint them as if you were painting a solid surface. You will see that the speed of work will increase significantly. When one surface is processed, you can turn the pieces of wood over and paint them on the other side, then on the third, etc.
After this, you need to thoroughly dry the soaked parts. It's best to do this outside. Unfortunately, impregnation is a rather fragrant thing. Moreover, its smell is not so pleasant. For example, wood varnish is also not sugar, but it does not cause such disgust.
Therefore, if possible, it is better to dry wood in the yard or on the balcony:
It is important that the products come into contact with other objects as little as possible when drying. For example, it is not advisable to lay them flat on the asphalt. Moreover, you shouldn’t put them on top of each other - then you won’t be able to tear them apart, and they will take a long time to dry.
For example, I put the verticals on a regular trough. Dried perfectly. And fast enough. After about four hours you can pick them up with your hands and start assembling the rack. But to be more sure, it’s better to wait longer. The can of impregnation indicates the time for complete drying. For me it was 24 hours.
The main thing is that it doesn’t rain during this time :)
When the impregnation has dried, we begin the final assembly of the product.
We immediately need to decide at what height our shelves will be located. I assumed that 4 winter car tires could be placed under the lowest one. You must decide for yourself at what level each shelf will be. By the way, you can easily make not three, like mine, but four shelves. This will require more material, but such a rack will be more spacious if you do not have too large things.
We fix the corners at the selected levels:
You need to make four of these “rollers”. Only in the outermost of them can you immediately screw in the second horizontal lines. For the middle ones, we will do this when the planks of the lower shelf are laid in place and secured. Our design will look terrible at first. You may be struck by the thought that you shouldn’t have gotten involved in this whole story. It was necessary not to cheat, but to go and buy a normal ready-made rack.
Indeed, such a view with vertical sticks constantly trying to fall will make anyone depressed:
Yeah. It’s time to break down all this misunderstanding, and brand the one who encouraged you to take this adventure, that is, me, with disgrace and call him names in every possible way in the comments.
Your will. But I would suggest you keep working. Moreover, we have already done the most important and difficult thing. There are mere trifles left.
By the way, do you know why we didn’t attach all the horizontal beams at once? It would look quite logical, and the structure would be much stronger, and not shake like jelly.
But I'd like to see how you fit the boards that make up the bottom shelf into place. Let me remind you that they are wall-to-wall length. So if you decide to use engineering ingenuity and have already screwed on the upper horizontal bars, unscrew it. You can attach them in place only after you have something similar to the design in the picture above.
The next step is to attach the planks of the first shelf to the horizontals. Let me remind you that this is done using ordinary nails:
As a result, we should get this:
Look: something is starting to emerge, right? And you wanted to break. It’s good that I, I hope, managed to persuade you to wait with the defeat and continue the assembly.
I pay special attention to the stands under the legs of the rack. I made them from laminate scraps. They not only protect the floor from damage, but also serve as a leveling tool if the floor's evenness is in some doubt.
By placing one or two planks here and there, we can give our product a more or less vertical position. Of course, it would be much cooler to use furniture legs with adjustable heights. But they are not cheap, and we will need as many as 8 of them. So I personally used laminate scraps.
Our next task will be to “create” the second shelf. To do this, we screw horizontal bars to pre-installed corners and lay clapboard planks on them. At the same time, you can immediately screw on the upper horizontal lines. Ideally it should look like this:
Alas, in practice, things don’t always work out as smoothly as you would like. Ideally, the clapboard planks should lie on all four horizontal bars. In other words, all these bars must be in the same plane. For example, like this:
This worked for me, but for some reason one horizontal line turned out to be lower than necessary. Look, the boards don’t reach it and hang in the air:
I don’t know how it happened. But, I thought that if it happened to me, it could well happen to you too. Let's see how to get out of this situation.
There are two approaches. On the one hand, you can place a strip of the same material under the planks. I had a lot of scraps left, so I just had to cut out a plank the right size and slip it under the shelf.
But I decided to go a different way. This path is good if you miss the measurement by a significant distance. For example, half a centimeter or more. In this case, you just need to unscrew the horizontal and screw it “higher”. It is advisable not to make a new hole directly above (under) the old one - if you overdo it, the vertical block may crack.
It is better to screw the horizontal with a slight shift in any direction:
After all the planks of the second shelf lie horizontally as they should, you can fasten them with nails.
Well, then, as I hope, everything is already clear. The finishing touch There will be a third shelf installed. I don’t think it’s worth describing the whole process in detail. The only thing that can be said is that there may be not five, but six boards on the top shelf. It turned out wider. One extra board will add strength to the entire shelf.
Let's look at the result of our work:
There are two more horizontal lines in this picture because my particular shelving unit will continue along the right wall. If you also want to make an L- or even a U-shaped rack out of wood, then you will need Additional materials. Which ones and how many, I think, you can decide for yourself by analogy with what has already been done.
Well, you and I have finished our fruitful and multi-useful activities. As a result, we have a ready-made wooden rack made by ourselves. Perhaps for some this will be the first experience of creating furniture from scratch. If everything turned out more or less smoothly, then you can be proud of the result and even outline new projects. For example, you can buy furniture panels and make a simple wardrobe, then a whole wall of furniture, a kitchen set...
I hope I was able to give you step by step instructions, starting from the choice of materials to some logical conclusion. In my humble opinion, if you follow it step by step, almost any person, regardless of gender and age (except for very babies), can do something similar.
Impregnation and varnish for wood. Are they necessary?
Finally, all we have to do is find out whether we wasted time and money on impregnating our wooden parts. Unfortunately, the result of the experiment will only be ready after some time.
The bottom line: I took 8 small pieces of pine wood of the same type, scraps from the clapboard. I didn’t paint the first two with anything (U/O - no treatment), I just left it as is. The second pair was covered only with impregnation (P). The third - only with varnish (L). The fourth - first with impregnation, then with varnish (P+L).
The result was two sets of prototypes. The first one will be lucky: I will put it somewhere in the interior of the house:
I will place the second one outside in rain, snow and sun.
Everything that is well folded is never lost and is quickly found. To this folk wisdom we can add that proper storage things saves space and decorates the interior.
All these arguments are an excellent reason to make a homemade shelving unit and give a decisive battle to domestic chaos and disorder. Its design is so simple that it will not become a stumbling block for a beginner. A couple of vertical frames with crossbars, shelves made of boards, plywood or chipboard - these are all the elements of a standard shelving system.
Since there are many places to install shelving (in the house, basement, veranda, garage), many options for their designs have been developed.
In our review we will look at the most interesting of them and give practical advice about how quickly and with minimal costs make such a structure.
Original options for shelving structures
Anyone who believes that a rack is a rough frame with shelves is deeply mistaken. Indeed, for the basement and garage you don’t have to imagine too much. Strength, durability and functionality are the main slogans for these premises.
For the home interior, on the contrary, I want to do something special and non-trivial. Therefore, home-made masters spare no time and effort to capture our imagination. A couple of oak boards and a few glass bottles are all that is needed to create an original design.
Despite its simplicity, the strength of such a rack is quite high. You can store not only books on it, but also use it to display your wine collection.
Anyone who has dealt with high shelf structures knows that without a good ladder it is impossible to reach their upper tier. Why not use shelves as steps - a resourceful person thought and created such an original system.
The classic frame shelving rests on the floor, and to install the rope shelving you only need two hooks in the wall. Of course, it won’t be possible to store heavy cans of preserved food on it, but it is perfect for books, photographs and souvenirs.
You can make a rack with your own hands so that others will appreciate your creative nature using steel water pipes and fittings. This design looks perfect in an industrial-style interior. In addition, it is quite appropriate in an ordinary apartment.
Pay attention to the original way of mounting the shelves. They are mounted on racks according to the principle of a children's “pyramid”, tier by tier.
This rack does not have rear support posts. The high rigidity of a steel pipe reinforced with tees makes it possible to eliminate them. This design can be placed anywhere: in an apartment, on the veranda, in the attic or cellar.
The manufacturing algorithm for such a rack consists of the following operations:
- We cut the timber for the racks and crossbars according to the dimensions of the drawing.
- Having laid the racks on a flat horizontal surface, we connect them to the crossbars (we use a hammer and nails or a screwdriver and self-tapping screws).
- We fix the resulting support frames to the walls of the room through metal plates.
- We cut shelves from OSB boards.
- We mount the shelves into the frame and fix them with self-tapping screws.
You can see the simplest option for assembling the sides of the rack in photo No. 8. Let us note right away that the nail connection is not the most reliable, since it does not hold the wood as firmly as self-tapping screws or confirmations.
Photo No. 9 A small wooden rack-rack consisting of two sides
A shelving frame looks more aesthetically pleasing, in which the crossbars are flush with the racks, as in wiring diagram № 3.
If the pitch of the support frames is small (50-60 cm), then you can do without installing a longitudinal bar. It will be fully replaced by an OSB board with a thickness of 18-20 mm. On a short span, it has enough rigidity to withstand a lot of weight without bending.
If you bought a thin slab or three-layer plywood, then you will have to install a longitudinal bar on each tier of the rack. It will tie the frames together and serve as a side support for the shelves. To increase the spatial rigidity of such a structure on its back wall You can secure several diagonal ties from bars.
if you have welding machine, then make a rack from metal profile, it will be easier than wooden. If there is no welding, then you will have to take an electric drill, metal drills, and stock up on bolts and nuts.
Manufacturing sequence metal rack from a corner or profile pipe is not fundamentally different from installation wooden frame. Here, too, frames are first made, which are then leveled in vertical plane and fixed to the wall. When using thick chipboard or boards 30-40 mm thick for shelves, the rack does not need to be connected with a longitudinal profile.
In this case, the shelves rest directly on the cross members of the frames and are attached to them with metal screws. If the structure will bear a serious load, then a longitudinal stiffening belt under the shelves will not be superfluous.
Note that working with profile pipe more convenient and easier than with a corner. Keep this in mind when purchasing metal. The optimal cross-section size for a square tubular profile in terms of price and strength is 25x25 mm, wall 2 mm. It is better to buy an equal angle corner measuring 40x40 mm.
A lightweight version of the design can be made using metal support brackets. They are fastened with dowels to the wall, and shelves made of boards or OSB boards are placed on top.
This solution allows you to save space under the rack for installing large items.
