DIY - putting shelves on wall

[YellowPrincess]

I don't know a lot about DIY. I tried my hand at a few things like changing a tap. I can build IKEA furniture and I like building IKEA furniture. I like to paint too.

I need some shelves in my bedroom because my room is a mess and I need to pick stuff of the floor and off chairs and just clean the room. I need shelves for storage.

I bought some kallax cubes from IKEA because they seem the most appropriate because I can get the sub area for storage and then also the top of the cube.

So I will construct some cubes. Then after that i will hang them up on a wall.

I was watching YouTube videos and so far the tools I bought are:

• stud finder
• drill
• wall ankers
• level.

I need to get a pencil and a tape too. The tape because a YouTube video I watched showed placing tape at the back of the shelf and marking holes on the tape.

Is there anything else I may need?

Is there anything else I will need to know.

The wall is plastered. So is that plasterboard?

Anyone?

Can anyone help. The shelves came so I will build them and I am waiting for a delivery of tools tomorrow and Friday.

If you knock on the the wall and it sounds hollow you have plasterboard, if it sounds solid it is plaster on brick or similar.

Measure twice and cut/drill once.

Ok, thank you. It's definitely plaster on brick. For sure 100%.

Ok, I will do my measurements twice. And drill only once.

Make absolutely sure there are no electricity lines or water or anything else running behind the walls before you drill into them.
There are tools/detectors that can check for electricity; you can get these at the DIY-store, too.
If you have building plans or anything like that the information might be in there.

Thank you. It's an old build and the plans are long gone.

I have a stud finder. I think that is the purpose of the stuff finder. To investigate what's behind the walls if anything.

There's only one bathroom in the house and I wouldn't think there's any water pipes running through the walls. The only thing I would have to look for would be wires.

I bought a stud finder from Amazon? Should I have bought a more expensive one from a hardware shop like with a better brand name like Bosch or DeWalt instead of an Amazon cheapie.

It should be delivered to me tomorrow so I will investigate some walls tomorrow and play around with it.

I won't do any drilling just yet. Maybe Saturday.

Hopefully. I will see how my stud finder behaves.

A stud detector is helpful but there's other things you can look out for, too. As a general rule (and this is meant as a guide only!! Pipes and electrical cables are run vertically and horizontally. So if there are any sockets or switches directly under where you want to drill the hole, proceed with caution!

I recommend the Fischer wall plugs, do you have the right size drill bits for the plugs you have? Eg if it says "6" on it, you'll need a 6mm drill bit.

Good for you for taking the initiative to learn a new skill - you'll feel such pride when it's done!

Ps that doesn't mean that you will NEVER come across pipes and cables that run diagonally. It's just less common and not best practice, in modern standards, at least.

@YellowPrincess ah, alright, I wasn't familiar with the term "stud finder" 😀
I archived the name as detector; but they are probably the same.

Is a wall Anker the same thing as Rawl plugs? If so you will need some suitable screws too. And do you have brackets to attach the shelves to the wall? Do they come with the shelves?

Yes I ordered shelves or cubes from IKEA. Ikeas stuff is usually good and comes with everything you need to build the item and it usually comes with brackets and screws.

I think the online IKEA booklet said 8 screw but I can't be certain. Hopefully my drill will be able to do that. I presume that will be 8 mm.

Ok the drill I ordered from Amazon, it says the biggest kinda screw drill head that has is 6 mm.

Will that be too small for my project. I think the online IKEA instructions says 8 on a screw.

Ok I am just after reading the instructions again. It looks like I was provided with enough screws for building the unit and for attaching the brackets to the shelves but I looks like I didn't get any screws for putting them on the wall.

This is what I have. Any idea what screws I need for this for the wall?

Most shelves you buy like that don't include the screws to fix it to the wall because they don't know what kind of wall you are fixing it to. For that size of shelf I would say a 6mm drill bit and plug would probably be fine, but you need to make sure it's long enough to fix into the masonry behind the plaster - at least 50mm as a starting point. The set you have has pan head screws which is good, that's what you need for that unit according to the instructions.

This is what I found from the DIY b and q website.

Is that 50mm screws that I need?

Look for YouTube videos of how to fix shelves to the wall. There are different types of drill bit and fixings for different types of wall.

For masonry or brick, you want a masonry drill bit and big rawl plugs.

For plaster board, you need special plaster board fixings.

Yup, 50mm minimum. Do you know what you have in the set you bought, does it tell you on the packet or web page?

I will open a box tonight and build a cube shelf but I won't put it on the wall yet and then I will see what the instructions say about the screw sizes that I will need for the wall. The online instructions don't give the wall screw size.

OP, i found the videos from Charlie DIYte and the Gosforth handyman really, really helpful. You need to work out if you are on a internal plasterboard stud wall, solid wall, or an external wall with a cavity between the plasterboard and external brick work etc to know what screws, rawl plugs and length you need and also weight you need to be holding up.

I use corefix screws for anything on external walls as i have a cavity to bridge ( dot and dab walls). I use fisher duopower rawl plugs for internal walls.

https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieDIYte

m.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ13gug7aQ4

Thank you for your reply. I enjoyed watching videos on YouTube from these accounts and that knyou for sharing.

I feel reasonably more confident now and hopefully I will get on well over the weekend.