A common question we receive is whether shelves need to attach to lipped brackets. There are many different types of shelf brackets and we can address it all here. Well, as shelf brackets fabricators since 2015, we can answer that here!
While shelf boards definitely attach to L brackets, they are not always needed with lipped brackets.
For lipped brackets, such as a Z Bracket or J Bracket, the shelf board fits snugly within the front lip of the bracket. When the necessary quantity of brackets is used, the weight is distributed evenly.
Advantages
Because of this, there are some advantages to not adding pre-drilled holes:
- Preserves the shelf board. This might be preferable so as to not damage special shelves
- Allows shelves to be moved, changed, or updated
- Drilling holes in the bracket can actually weaken the metal so fewer, carefully placed holes are optimal
Options
All that said, some shelf systems may prefer attached shelves. There are many options for adding pre-drilled holes:
- Our standard L brackets are designed to attach to the shelf
- We can make custom brackets, just sent us a message
- Attach shelves by drilling through the metal bracket. To do this, we recommend using a 5/16” high speed drill bit.
- Or, shelves can be secured by using silicon, a strong alternative.
Final Thoughts
We hope this answers the question about whether attaching shelves to the bracket is necessary to create a complete shelving system. While it may be a surprise, it is often optimal or preferred to keep boards unattached. But, when it's not, we have many options available!
