Years ago it may have seemed a bookcase was the only use for shelves. There tended to be little choice of colour, finish and size, and therefore the room could have ended up being designed around the storage rather than the other way round.
Modern day storage solutions are a different kettle of fish (although not literally, unless you opt for modern art shelving). From circular to straight, matt black to wooden, and tall to wide, the options when choosing a shelving unit are endless. This means they have become much more versatile, and can now be used for many more things than just storing books.
In the home, shelves can be used to display ornaments, photos or even shoes and handbags if you happen to have a walk in wardrobe. They can be put up differently to create a design on the wall and if used creatively can actually become the centrepiece of a room. No longer an ugly necessity, they can now bring character and charm to your home.
Within a work environment, there are many different needs for storage. From keeping paperwork organised in the office to storing stock in a warehouse, there is always a need for extra space. Many units now also come in a heavy duty metal shelving finish meaning they withstand much bigger weights therefore increasing the amount that can be kept on them.
The internet has resulted in many more products being available across the entire spectrum, and storage solutions have definitely moved on. Whether it’s a decorative piece for your lounge or massive pieces for a warehouse, a shelf or two could make all the difference.
If you have ever visited a library and browsed its shelf racks for a book to read, you may well have noticed a sticker on the spine of each book with a set of letters and numbers written on it. This alpha-numeric code is part of a cataloguing and referencing system, known as the Dewey Decimal Classification, and is sometimes referred to as the Dewey Decimal System.
The DDC method of classifying and keeping track of books in a library has been in use since the late 1800s. The method, however, has not remained static, but has evolved through the years as technology, and ways of classifying new genres of literature (such as Modernism and Post-Modernism) have come along. In the area of non-fiction books, computing sciences and other new developments have also made it necessary to revise this system.
As you can see, although it is believed by a good many people that the DDC system is only used for academic or non-fiction books, it is in fact used to help classify all books, and is an extremely useful method of ensuring that books are stored on shelves in such a way as to make them easy to locate, and to return to their correct position.
The reason it is known as a decimal system is that books are placed into ten classes to begin with. These classes are then divided down into ten subclasses. Since its advent in the 19th century, the Dewey Decimal Classification system has had 22 major restructurings.
Even when metal storage racks have been braced and stabilised, the bolts will eventually loosen. In the first place, the bolts should always be tightened with a socket or a spanner to get enough torque. The fixing bolts, if tightened with pliers, will not give enough rigidity. They will loosen, no matter what, but a lot more slowly.
An all round tightening should only be needed approximately every one to two years or so. If this is overlooked, the shelves will become unstable and unsafe. Storage racks that do not have adequate bracing, in other words on three sides, may become loose very quickly. It is entirely possible that a rack without proper bracing will loosen to the point where it is about to collapse in less than a week.
With wooden shelving units, two by two inch uprights will give a racking system suitable for the usual household loads, if they have been well braced and jointed. For a shelf to be well jointed it needs metal reinforced joints, large corner braces, for example. There should be at least two screws into the upright and one into the shelf.
Free units can be made from scrap for storage sheds, cellars, lofts and so forth. Timber shelving units may be made to be adjustable quite easily by resting the shelves on blocks secured to the uprights. One way of arranging shelves is to make cut-outs at each corner to accept the uprights. Making a template from cardboard is often useful.
Metal shelving units need to be kept rigid at all times. They are different to shelving units made from wood because any joint movement at all in metal units works the bolts loose.
With heavyweight metal shelving systems, it is best to either brace them on three sides as a free-standing unit or you could secure them to a wall. Two braces are not enough to make the system completely safe. For instance, if a unit were braced at the rear and right side, it would still enable the left side to twist, albeit only slightly. However, even a slight amount of movement would be enough to loosen the bolts holding the joints together and possibly cause an accident.
Lightweight steel units will also need bracing on three sides. The light systems usually have quite shallow shelves. This makes them too easy to topple over and cause damage or injury. Your best bet is to secure them firmly to a wall as well as bracing them. Another option is to fix them to more shelving units, which will give them greater stability. This, of course, depends on the amount of floor space available to you, since lightweight units tend to be used in the garage or garden shed.
Bracing a unit is quite simple. Basically, all you need to do is attach a piece of wood or metal diagonally across each of the three sides. This will create triangular shapes which will make sure that the shelving unit is completely rigid.
There is a surprisingly wide choice of materials with which to construct shelving units.
Moulded plastic shelf racks are easy and quick to assemble as well as being unaffected by the damp. Since there are various designs it is recommended that you check the shelf unit, after you have assembled it, for stability. If it is not totally stable then you need to secure it to a wall. One of the limitations of shelving units constructed from plastic is that it is difficult to modify them in order to make larger systems or customised assemblies.
Bamboo and willow can make unusual and rather attractive shelving units. However they are only really useful for very light usage. They are excellent as display units for example, or as shelf storage space for bed linen, towels or clothes.
Now and again, it is possible to stack breeze blocks as support for wooden shelves. If the unit is well designed and well built it will make for a strong unit. However, if there are not sufficient means to withstand sideways forces, these units can become unstable without warning and therefore unsafe.
Chipboard is okay for quite a few uses around the house, but does tend to sag after a while and has very little water resistance. When used in shelves, it is recommended that it rests on supporting rails on all four sides.
Plywood is a lot tougher than chipboard and WBP plywood is water resistant. OSB is a cheap alternative to plywood.