I spoke this morning with a general contractor who plans to install a 12″ x 74″ floating shelf for his client, he says they plan to load the shelf with hardback books all the way across. They plan to use the U-paint MDF, he asked if another type of wood might be stronger and if that would help carry the load.<\/p>\n
The bamboo is much stronger than any of the other woods, but\u00a0I think that makes no difference. The MDF is plenty strong enough\u00a0to carry the weight.\u00a0The shelves are very strong. The steel installation bracket is very strong. the weakest point is always where the bracket attaches to the wall.<\/p>\n
In his case, the wall is 1\/2″ drywall over wood studs. One problem I have seen with drywall is that it can squish under the pressure of tightening the lags.\u00a0Once the\u00a0drywall\u00a0has been weakened,\u00a0there is\u00a0no way to get the bolts tight enough. \u00a0This is\u00a0far less likely to become a\u00a0problem if the walls are\u00a0real plaster.\u00a0\u00a0A simple remedy I have had great success with\u00a0is to drill out the drywall at each stud location using a 1.25″ holesaw bit. Then use the same drill on some scrap 1\/2″ plywood to make 1.25″ wood puck standoffs to fill the space between the bracket and the stud, positioned so the\u00a0lags pass through the\u00a0center hole of the\u00a0plywood pucks and then into the studs… problem solved<\/p>\n