How to Hang a Shelf

Ever spent painstaking hours hanging a shelf and then set something on it only to have it fall right off? Hanging the shelf is not nearly that hard. There are only a few steps you have to follow to hang a shelf perfectly. First, you should acquire the necessary materials. These include a power drill or something else to hang screws, a good level, a stud finder, a tape measure, and the equipment for hanging the shelf. Depending on how long the shelf is, this would include the shelf itself, the number of mounting brackets specific to how long the shelf is, and a number of screws to match. Half the screws have to be long enough to go into the wall and hit a stud, and the other half need to be just long enough to secure the mounts to the shelf without going through. Once you have gotten all the necessary equipment, it is time to hang the shelf.

First, you need to plan out where exactly this shelf is going. Once you have figured it out, place the level against the wall. If you do not know how to use the level, look at the bubbles. When you find the tube that is horizontal, you have located the right one. The level is flat when the bubble is inside the two lines. Make the level straight, and put it right where you want your shelf, and mark a line on the wall. This line will be perfectly straight. Now that we have this line, it is time to find the studs.

Studs are pieces of wood behind the sheetrock. They are the only place you can hang a shelf because if you try to hang the brackets outside the studs, the weight will rip holes in the sheetrock. If you have no stud finder, you can use your everyday hammer to tap on the wall until there is something solid behind it. If the house is up-to-code, the studs will be located 24″ apart. When you have found the solid part behind the wall, mark it with a pencil so that you can remember where it is. The advantage of using a stud finder is that you can find the center of the stud. To use a stud finder, you must remember to place the stud finder firmly against the wall and then push the button. If you push the button and then place it against the wall, there will be an inaccurate reading. When sliding the stud finder, there will be some sort of indicator that something has been found. There will be an indicator on top of the stud finder telling you where the edge is. Mark the edge, and then continue sliding until the indicator loses the stud. Then slide it backwards until you hit the edge again. Mark this. Now you know where the two edges are, so you can find the middle. These two marks, if accurate, will be 1.5 inches apart. Drilling through the middle of the stud will be safer than drilling closer to the edge. Now that you have found the middle of the stud, continue marking studs until you have 1 for each mounting bracket. A good rule of thumb is to put a bracket in every stud unless there is a stud at the very end of the shelf. Now that we know where to put the brackets in, it is time to mount the brackets onto the shelf. Make sure that you space them out correctly so that when you put it against the wall, it will hit the studs. Simply make some marks on the shelf so that you know where the brackets should go. Drill these brackets into the shelf. Now, set the shelf against the wall, perfectly level with the line, and secure the brackets. If done correctly, the shelf should be perfectly level, and every bracket will have gone through the middle of the stud.

Now that you have completed hanging your shelf, you should test it out. Place a tennis ball or a golf ball right in the middle, and watch it stay perfectly still. Also noteworthy is that a self-leveling laser level will shoot a laser across the wall and make your work a little easier!