I am installing new shelves in my pantry, 12" x 55" with walls on three sides. The shelving material is laminate over particleboard. Considering how heavy a shelf full of canned goods is, can I get away with just using 1" nailers on all three walls to rest the shelves on, or do I need L brackets in the middle as additional support?
Kitchens – Do I need bracing for 12“x55” shelves
kitchensshelving
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Yes. They can easily take the weight when anchored to studs. I use it for my computer desk. It works great and gives you a very inexpensive, height adjustable, and narrow depth desk. I have two shelves. One is 24" deep and is a keyboard/work surface. The other is just 12" deep and holds my LCD monitor.
I opted to place just two rails ~32" apart (skipping one stud) so that my knees don't bang the brackets. This causes the desktop to bow very slightly under the weight of my hands. I suppose this could be fixed by using a more rigid surface vs. the default melamine shelving.
My PC is on the floor but these shelves could easily hold the weight.
Unsupported 1x12 over a 5' span will sag (even under its own weight). As an alternative you could get some of these shelf tracks (~$2.25/track)
and some 12" brackets (~$1.30/brace)
and then lay your 1x12's on top to make the shelves. This option also allows you to easily adjust the shelves up and down, to suit your needs.
If you want to make the shelves completely from wood (as you suggest), you'll need to beef up the design and add additional supports.
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Best Answer
55 inches is a rather long span for a 12 inch wide shelf that is supported on the ends and back side by the wall. One way that you could provide some more support for the shelves would be to add some center front supports for the shelves working up from the floor to the top shelf.