Ikea Lack Shelf Installation – Guide Step 1: Measure and Mark Shelf Location Step 1: Measure and Mark Shelf Location.The best way to use LACk shelves is when you have some room to play with so you can make sure that you get as many screws into a stud as possible. When I installed one over another with drywall anchors (not the IKEA ones, nice hardware store ones) it worked great, and our laundry room install with the single, cut down LACK shelf also installed well with holes drilled to line up with our existing shelves. I haven’t had this problem in other places where I’ve used the shelves so I may not have done as great a job doing 6 all at once. It’s odd because I drilled holes in the hardware (with a cobalt drill bit, they don’t break as easily) so that every shelf was connected to at least 2 studs. You get what you pay for with the LACK shelves so I did have to do some manhandling after the shelves were up to get the fronts to line up correctly.Įven after everything, some shelves are my “heavy item” shelves and some are my “light item” shelves. I lined the top of IKEA hardware bars up with that line, that way the back of the shelves were lined up. Then I used a straight edge (yardsticks & levels work great) to draw the line onto the wall in pencil. It was extremely helpful to use a laser level to make a level line across the entire wall. The laundry room is getting close to photo ready. If the nearest stud is far enough away from one of the rods that holds the shelf that it will move easily when I press down, I use drywall anchors to steady it – but not the awful IKEA ones get the good ones from any big box store. The top hole is most important to keep the shelf from bending downward under weight. I mark where each stud is on the metal LACK hanging hardware and drill new holes using a Cobalt drill bit. I double check by drilling a tiny hole and making sure that it hits the stud. I put a screw in each side to hang the hardware where I want it to go and then find studs. I don’t hang shelves on drywall anchors alone since I use them for books & other heavy objects. I haven’t tried this, but it looks possible.Īnother note: The next problem with hanging LACK shelves in very specific spots is that the holes almost never line up with a stud. Update: If you need a pretty edge on the cut-side, consider peeling the end off of the trimmed-off piece and gluing it back onto the shelf. So that’s how you can cut a LACK shelf should it not fit perfectly in the space you want. As you can see, on the back of the shelf (on the left) my lines didn’t line up perfectly. I started at the front of the shelf so it would have a great line. Cut one way all the way across, then turn the shelf over and cut again. Now you can see why they are so cheap! I used a circular saw to keep the cut as straight as possible. No action shots here, but here’s the inside of a LACK shelf. I wanted the shelf 2″ shorter and measured to 2-1/4″ to allow for variations in the wall.ĭraw a line all the way around the shelf (unless you have a saw that can cut all the way through it, most of us don’t). Wrap the shelf in blue tape – all the way around. I didn’t unwrap the entire shelf so it would be protected while being moved around. Only the left side would be up against a wall, so I made sure that I cut on the left side, looking from the front with the screws on the bottom. I wanted them on the bottom, so I made sure that I was cutting from the correct side. Pay attention to where the final screws go. After stepping back and looking at the space, I decided that the perfect length would be 2 inches shorter.įirst, unwrap the end of the shelf that you want to cut. When I measured, I knew it would be tight, but thought I could scoot the washer and dryer over a bit (but actually could not). I ran into this problem again installing a long LACK shelf in the laundry room. Since these are installed by sliding them back onto their hardware, that didn’t work out. The side wall was tighter farther away from the back wall where I had measured. When I actually went to hang the final shelves on the right side, they wouldn’t fit because of the subtle saves in the wall. When I measured, lining 3 of them up side-by-side was the perfect width for the space with 1/4″ to spare. If I had done staggered shelves like this, it would have been much easier so this is a look you can consider instead of cutting them to size.īack in my study, I used 6 of the medium sized LACK shelves. I was inspired by this much more expensive home my family built for a custom home client. The next time I used LACK shelving was in my new study where I put 6 of them together to create two long shelves. Photo Credit: Chris Peres / Metropochris for Apartment Therapy
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