It might seem impossible to put up a floating shelf without having to drill the wall, but you can learn how to install floating shelves without drilling. Even if you are an amateur, you can hang a floating shelf without nails and it will look elegant without compromising your wall in any way.
If you are a renter, you may have to comply with a ‘no modification’ clause in your lease agreement that prevents you from altering your living space, even with a hole in the wall. Breaching such an agreement might mean losing your security deposit.
You do not want to do this by using studs or nails to hang a floating shelf without nails. The best solution is a floating shelf.
Wall shelves built without any screws involved will provide you with storage space without necessarily interfering with your walls – or your security deposit.
When you remove them, your wall will be left intact, with no damage at all. It comes out clean. Use them on tiled walls, wooden walls, and even painted walls.
These shelves are also reusable. It means that you can move with them to a new house if you need to.
If you are installing a hanging shelf in your kitchen, you will probably need it to hold herbs and spices or light crockery. Get one that makes it easy to organize small items in a way that makes sense.
Learn How to Install Floating Shelves without Drilling by Yourself
It’s not hard installing a floating shelf without drilling a wall. Keep on reading to find out how to install floating shelves without drilling:
1. Know the Kind of Wall You Are Working With
Your wall might be a plaster wall or drywall. Knock lightly against the wall using a fist. Be gentle to avoid hurting yourself or the wall.
Listen to the sound. Drywall would produce a hollow sound. If you do not hear any hollow sound, you might be working with a plaster wall.
Drywall will allow a nail to go in with little resistance. A plaster wall will need many taps to slide in. Once you know your type of wall, you can choose the right type of hardware for you to hang floating shelves without nails.
2. Invest in Self-Adhesive Tape
You are probably wondering how wood can stick to a wall with no drilling involved. The answer is adhesive mounting strips.
The stronger ones are made to support large objects like pictures. Double-check the weight capacity of the adhesive strips. You want to know for sure that your shelf will be secure.
The strip should have one side that is sticky and another side that is a rough and grippy surface like Velcro. It is different from the surface you would use for command hooks.
Some of the trusted adhesive strips on the market are scotch, command, or Velcro. You can find them at an office supply store, or a craft store.
Sugru is a type of adhesive glue that is moldable and may work for lighter and smaller shelves.
It is easy once you know how to do it.
3. The Shelf should be Light Weight
Denser, heavier materials like steel and solid wood need nails and screws. But hollow wood planks which are much lighter can be secured with self-adhesive tape. Weigh it just to make sure. Any shelf that weighs 1.4 kg or lighter should be light enough for the adhesive to work.
Any board that is more than 4.5 kg is a safety risk when it hangs on tape. Look for floating shelves at fittings stores. Choose hollow ones in a lighter color. Balsa wood is good for this.
4. Get some Scotch Tape
Not just any tape will do. Get strong and durable tape suited to larger objects like photographs.
Get sturdy ribbons that can hold the new shelf as well as what will be on top of it.
To hang floating shelves using command strips, buy duct tape which has one side made from rough Velcro and the other duct tape. Don’t use the same duct tape for command interceptors.
To make the bookshelf stable, try Velcro tapes, tape fasteners, and hanging tapes. The Velcro tapes should be detachable.
Craft stores have all these supplies you will need to hang shelves without nails.
5. Use Rubbing Alcohol to Clean
You are going to need a clean cloth, damp with isopropyl alcohol. Gently wipe the wall and shelf then allow them to dry for 5 minutes.
This simple cleaning will get rid of grease, wax, and oil which keep the adhesive tapes from holding strongly enough to hang floating shelves without nails.
Buy the rubbing alcohol from a drug store or craft store.
6. Affix the Strips to your Shelves
Use straps or mounting brackets to hold together the sides of the Velcro that need to be fastened. This is if they are not already held together.
You will then need to take the protective film out of one tape and apply the adhesive side to the spot where you will mount the shelf. Then spend the next 30 seconds pressing adhesive strips into each other. Repeat the process with all the films.
Evenly spread the strips to allow your shelf to hang efficiently. Staple the strips onto the planks of wood so that your strips are now secured to the shelf. You now have a floating shelf on your wall attached without screws.
7. Press the Board to the Wall for Half a Minute
Once the adhesive tapes are secured to your shelf, you now want to take the linings out of the tape and hold the shelf against the wall for at least 30 seconds. After that, the shelf will be locked in place.
Tape the shelf and the two sides that are next to each other using duct tape and incline them when you hang them for more support.
8. Take out the board and Press the Strips for 30 seconds each
Pull off the shelf’s edges. Do it carefully and gently until you remove it from the wall. Separate all the pairs of pieces from the strip. Have one side adhere to the wall. The other should stick to the shelf.
Press every sticky tape down for 30 seconds. This will make the tape stick fully.
If one strip pops out, you can just apply a new strip onto your shelf and repeat the process.
9. Wait an Hour to Replace the Shelf
Give the tape 1 hour to harden and then you can use adhesive tapes to replace the shelf. Look closely at the board when you leave it to make sure that it stays in place. You can leave blankets or pillows beneath it to cushion it from a fall. Your no-drill shelf is nearly ready.
10. Use it only for Strong and Light-Weight Items
Because your shelf does not have nails to hold it to the wall, you will not place heavy items on it. Things like appliances and heavy books are out of the question. But you can store smaller, lighter items like small pieces of china wear, light electronic gadgets, and other similarly small things.
Never place fragile objects on your floating shelf when you hang shelves without nails. They will break in case of a fall. If the shelf stretches 5 inches or more away from the wall, you want to place the items at the back so that you don’t subject the adhesive tapes to too much pressure. It will tear if you press it too hard.
You now know how to install floating shelves without drilling.
Alternatives
You can support lighter items with adhesive fixtures. Adhesive rails are ideal for dangling keys off. Phones, toiletries, and kitchen spices can sit on adhesive caddies. Collectibles and other small display items can sit on adhesive display ledges.
You can bypass shelves and use adhesive strips to place items directly on your wall when you hang shelves without nails. Use a clean cloth lightly wetted with isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface. Use the adhesive strip to fix your object to the wall by its corners.
The loading capacity of the strip should be sufficient to hold the object to the wall. If it already has hanging hardware on it, remove it before you can attach it to the wall with the adhesive strip.
Design Choices
You might want your floating shelf in your living room, bathroom, or kitchen. You will choose a different type of shelf depending on the room it is meant for.
Depending on the room, you will have a variety of wall shelves you can choose from. If you want a floating shelf in your living room, it will have to play a decorative as well as functional role. Go for something well-designed and simple, and let it fit into your decorative theme.
Choose how big or small you want your shelf according to the objects it will have to support. If it is 4 inches, it will hold only 2 pounds of weight. But if it is 21 inches, it will hold up to 5 pounds.
A no-drill shelf relies on adhesive materials for wall mounting. This means that it can carry less weight than a shelf nailed to the wall.
The beauty of this type of shelf is that you will not need any heavy tools to build it. It is ideal for wall art, signs, mirrors, picture frames, dry-erase boards, acoustic foam boards, and holiday decorations.