These old wooden shelves are to be replaced with some new modern alternatives that can hold much more.

This is the wall with the old shelves removed. We will fill the old holes later on in a different project.

I have had to draw a diagram of this because the camera could not photograph a pencil line well!

Using a spirit level draw a straight feint line across the wall where you wish the bottom of your shelf brackets or rails to start.

The shelves that we are fitting comprise of three upright's and U brackets. The U brackets slot into the shelf uprights and then the shelves rest on the U brackets.

Draw a line in vertical line in the centre of the horizontal line that you drew before, ensuring that it is straight by using a spirit level, then at equal distances draw two more feint lines at each side of the centre line.

Depending on the weight that the shelves will be taking we need to choose suitable fixings for the plasterboard. For normal duty shelves metal redi drivers should suffice.

For heavy duty shelving requiring maximum strength plasterboard fixings snap toggles may be required.

Hold the shelf uprights in position and then mark the drilling holes using a pencil.

Now check that there is no hidden dangers buried in the wall such as pipes or cables by using a suitable detector.

If you are using redi drivers you can just screw these in either by hand or with a cordless drill / driver. Stop when the driver is flush with the surface.

If you are using snap toggles then you will need to drill an adequate sized hole.

Now put the shelves onto the U brackets and secure them in place using suitable screws.

For instructions on how to make the perspex shelves please click here.