Alcove shelves

[Matt..]

I have a victorian terrace with lots of alcoves and I'd like to put up some shelves. The shelves will be approx 1m x .3-.4m. I want to make them with no visible supports, and capable of holding some weight (though nothing too major). All here walls around the shelves are solid,

Can anyone recommend a method to make them? And what materials would be best to use? I'd prefer to not have very thick shelves if possible, but need them to not show how they are supported and be 'clean' looking.


Thanks

[Matt..]

jgmadkit said:

If you are making them yourself and will be painting them then the way I did ours was to make a wood batten sandwich. Basically MDF sheet top and bottom with wood batten sandwiched between them and glued. Leave a battens width clear at either end and the long edge that goes against the wall as you will fix the same size battens on the wall for the shelf 'sandwich' to slide onto and fix. Front edge of shelf is again MDF to cover the sandwich. Get all the MDF cut free by B&Q and you also save the hassle of cutting the MDF yourself and get clean edges into the bargain. It takes a little while to do but once sanded and painted and on the wall they are very strong and look great. Mine are about 45mm thick in total using 12mm MDF and 21mm battens.

What's the span of that?

MDF seems a good option if I can get it precut, but it would need to be accurate, and I doubt B&Q are! Nothing is straight in this house, and there are no 90degree angles anywhere!

I'd like to keep the shelves under 5cm ideally, and they will end up white.

My other thought was as what I've quoted, but using real wood (timberboard/furniture board). The boards are ~18mm thick though, so would need to use something thin on the bottom of the shelf to prevent it being too thick. One advantage is this comes in the correct width, so would only be cutting the ends.

I would guess strength wise it's: timberboard > ply > mdf?

[Matt..]

Yazar said:

Something to bear in mind: As this is a party wall, too many holes and you may end up lowering the current sound proofing levels.

It's only going to be 3 or 4 shelves, nothing too major!

Only going one alcove as its all very minimal, I don't want more places to put 'stuff'!