Shelf Bracket

The basic function or design feature of a shelf bracket is to lend support to bearing weight of the shelf and its contents. Generally, brackets are designed to have an L shape, with one leg getting attached to the wall while the other is fixed to the overhead structure needing support. A bracket could be made of many materials and that include wood, metal and even stone. The choice of material used largely depends upon the weight it needs to support, lest it should get bent or even cracked due weight of the material it supports.

When looking for new brackets for your shelving units at home, you need to consider a few important factors:

1) How Many Shelves Are Being Installed?

You may have a shelving system with just one shelf to many more that may fit in the available area and design of the room. Next, you have to consider the items like books, tools and decorative pieces etc. to be accommodated in the shelves, and you may like to have some additional space for expansion too.

2) What Material Will the Shelves Be Made Of?

You get shelves made from metal, wood, glass or even plastic. The choice of material is especially important to consider for storing heavier items like books or domestic hardware. Shelves made from thinner materials are liable to bend and may even break depending on weight they are supporting. So choose an appropriate material such as metal or wood as per requirements.

3) How Many Brackets Will It Take?

That would largely depend upon the size of the shelf. Nevertheless, a good thumb rule is , the longer the shelf, the more is the number of brackets needed for each shelf. Shelves longer than 30 inches should ideally be provided 3 brackets. Unless adequate support is offered to longer shelves, they are sure to sag sooner than expected and may even break, again depending on the weight they bear.

4) Where Should They Be Installed

Shelf brackets necessarily need to be installed into a stud. If you mount a shelf bracket straight into drywall, it will get torn off the wall when you put weight over it. A stud finder is an easy to use inexpensive tool that you can find in any home hardware store and it’s worth having one at home all the time.
While installing brackets into a solid wall such as brick or concrete, make sure to use wall anchors. Installing these anchors into weak areas (such as mortar) will result to having the same problems as installing directly into drywall over time.

5) How Much Weight Can One Shelf Carry?

That would entirely depend on the material used for making the shelf and what it is going to carry. Normally, a glass shelf wouldn’t support more than 50 pounds whereas wooden and metallic shelves can bear weights varying from 200 to 400 pounds depending on thickness.

Solid brass shelf brackets provide the needed strength and durability and are available in a many ornate designs that add beauty to any shelving system. A bracket remains a focal point of design and an exclusive shelving bracket can convert a dull shelf into a pretty item in the home. You may have shelf brackets that match well with other existing scheme of things at home or even stand alone to get a new and exciting change from the run of the mill kind.

Almost every household has shelf brackets and one good reason for having these is that they generally come with striking looks. People visiting you place may not exactly notice or appreciate them but they do get a feel that your place has something nice and looking different. Any small investment in the form of labor or purchase of an item for the room certainly brings in a changed look to it and everybody likes to see changes. Consider even applying a fresh coat of paint on your old decorative shelf brackets and see the pleasant change it causes to the looks of your whole room.

While choosing a shelf bracket you have to be certain that it shouldn’t give looks of an “odd man out”, meaning that it should coordinate with the rest of the furniture and naturally blend with its style. Once you are able to take care of that aspect, it will give an exclusive new look to your room. They can be made from many materials including metals like iron, aluminum, chrome, wrought iron and wood or glass. It’s not unusual to have them in combination of two of these or more materials.

If you aren’t too sure of finding the decorative material for shelf, it will be good to understand how to match them with the surroundings. For instance, it’s hard to think of another material than glass if they were to be installed in a bathroom, that’s because f the moist and humid atmosphere there. As an extension of the same thought you may consider having them in cast iron for your formal dining area.

Buying them online is excellent. But, you need to have fairly good idea of what you are going to buy. You are sure to have many options. You should be sure of the size you like to have and that may demand taking some measurements. Price is also dependent on its size, as can be understandable. There is a very wide price range from less than a dollar to hundreds of dollars.

Metal Shelf Brackets

That shouldn’t remind you of those ugly looking pieces of metal assembled together, that ear is gone since long. Nor are they meant for only garages or just closets. Striking designs available these days will surprise you, just go on line and check some of them. They are beautifully designed by professionals and are so prompting that the viewer would wish to have one.

Apart from other metals, the shelf brackets made from iron are very good looking. You can have them in different varieties of iron itself. You have them in cast iron, the most popular form of iron, or they could be made of forged iron and wrought iron.

Glass Shelf Brackets

The modern decorated apartments find a perfect match in glass shelf brackets that provide a thru and thru view of the items displayed. They are so designed to give the impression of floating in the air and the items housed therein look very inviting.

Generally they find place in bathrooms or living rooms, but depending on the design and style of your dining place, you could certainly have them there. They offer a nice and quick way of dressing that area by housing a couple of your choicest photo frames.

Glass models are kept in place by using holders that come in many designs, and you have to be selective and choose one that enhances their beauty. One way of selecting the best holder would be to have a look at the manufacturers’ specifications.

You are aware of the characteristics of glass and glass shelving needs to be handled with care. They are light and have limited capacity to hold weights. Unless you are careful in handling them, they shatter and pose hazards.

Floating Shelf Brackets

Should you anticipate problems with shelf brackets or their installation, you best choice will be to go for floating shelf brackets! You can have amazing results with these. Their most striking feature is that they get installed in such a fashion that the supporting brackets are not visible to the onlooker. Of course they are delicate, but quite durable. Though you can keep almost any decorative item in them, it is desirable to conform to the manufacturer’s specifications for weight they can hold. Their designs are functional and looks are excellent. Additionally, they are made in many attractive colors and getting one to match the color scheme of your interiors poses no problems at all.