Pressure Fit Screwless Shelves

These shelves are held firmly in place by pressure created from the shelf itself, there are no screws, mounting hardware, or levitation tricks - all they need is two opposing walls, and they're good to go.  This simple shelving unit fits between any two walls.  In my case, a tiny closet in my room that was waisted storage space that I thought I'd improve.  The opening to the storage space is oddly smaller than the space itself (it's an old quirky house), so the fact they are pressure fit and self standing was actually a byproduct of the fact that I needed a method of installation where the shelf could be rotated into position, since the full width shelf wouldn't fit into place any other way.

The shelves are constructed from some simple dimensional lumber from Home Depot.  They're 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" and 66 inches tall.  The key piece to the design is the simple profile cut out that allows for the shelves to slip in from the top at an angle, as opposed to slid in from the front like a normal shelf - see the photos for detail, but simply put, it's a "G" shape.  I used a jigsaw to cut the notches.  The key measurement to consider is your overall width of the space you're filling with shelves since they're held in place by pressure alone.  Total width should be width of shelf + thickness of both supports (after notched cutout is made).  I cut my supports, and then adjusted my shelf width appropriately to get the best fit.

Comments

[manishrkp]

Scope for a lot of improvements. Thanks anyway

[A23]

Thanks so much for the idea. I put up my own version of this in a closet at home because I my family continues to lose there stuff in a closet out in our garage. I put the shelving unit up as a temporary until my dad has time to finish the closet properly. The shelves turned out great and this way I didnt put any screw holes through the drywall. :)

[bethmwl]

love it, so simple. i wonder where i can put it to use

[hammer9876]

That's exactly what I was thinking -> Great for people who rent.

[ChapDad]

Good work fitting some shelves into a weird little space. I take it you had to bash them slightly in order to get them nice and snug against the supports?

[noahw]

Not much bashing needed really - some careful measuring and cutting helped me hit the target width pretty much dead on.

[j.g.kuster]

Very nice solution, the fact that you can remove the shelves not only by sliding but also by lifting is great.
I am gonna think a bit longer on some other applications for this simple and cheap construction.

[antling]

Good lord! This is just what i needed!
I would definitely adapt this for my new shoes rack.
Wish me luck and thanks for the idea!

[kerns]

What a fantaSTIC project...

[sleepydog]

Very clever idea. This is great for people who rent.
Thanks for sharing this.