How to assemble wall mount bookshelves

I’m going to show you how to put together wall mount bookshelves. This is a KD bookshelf from IKEA. And everything’s in one box. In the box you’re going to have a top, and a bottom, these pieces are identical, and two sides and these pieces are also identical. Then you’re going to have the two shelves and the separator, and the last thing you’ll have is the bag of hardware.

The back of the shelf, the back sides, will have will have two holes. These two are for mounting the brackets if we’re going to put it on the wall. Otherwise they’re not used. So these pieces are going to go up like that. You might want to lay those down so that the holes of side pieces are facing each other towards the inside. And then you just have your bottom like that.

So first thing we’re going to do is mount these two pieces together. In this bag of hardware you’re going to find a hex key wrench, and you’re going to need it to tighten some of these bolts. The top and the bottom both will have screw holes on every corner. Line the corners up, put in one of the bolts, and then do it for this side in this corner. Since the hex key is important and the one that comes with the set is rather poor quality you should consider buying a better one made by manufacturers such as Irwin, Stanley, Klein, Tekton, or Tech Team https://techteamproducts.com/. We like the Tech Team 3pc. Hex Key Set https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Allen-Metric-Folding-Pieces/dp/B07CV12XQT/ref=sr_1_248?ie=UTF8&qid=1539525950&sr=8-248&keywords=tech+team  because it includes metric, SAE/ Inch, and Torx and it has comfortable TPR grips.

The next thing we’re going to do is put in the top divider, and take one of the short square pieces, it does matter which one, they’re both exactly the same. You’re going to take a wooden dowel and insert it in the holes on the outside hole. Nothing happens on the inside hole. Just slip it in like that. The next part I’m going to put together is the long one. Now on the end you’re gonna put in 4 dowels, 2 on each side. It doesn’t matter which side because it’s all symmetrical, and you’re going to slide them into the edge. We’re going to put some dowels inside the outside slot, not the inside ones. And you might notice that we’re not using any glue. You don’t need it. Then the last square slips into the pegs that are sticking out, just like that. Now you’re going to use the last of the wooden pegs. Put all 4 of them on the side of this slot there, and a couple in the ends.

Then you take the other side and remember these holes need to line up just like the ones down at the bottom. This will be the back of the shelf. I am going to line up these holes with these four pegs and slip it on. Now I can put the bolts in the top. Now we’re ready for the last piece, again just these two pegs are going to go in the slot on the bottom. Line them up, and then you have four more bolts one on each. Tighten them with the 5mm metric hex key wrench. All right, that’s how to do it. Pretty easy.

Now mounting it on a wall is a different story. The instructions are painfully vague on how to do it, especially how to do it securely. If you’re hanging it on a wall you’re going to use the brackets, and you really need to mount them into a stud. If you don’t know what a stud is, these are beams running up vertically behind the wall and they’re 16 inches apart, and they’re only 1 ½” inches thick. When you mount this you’re going to need to do it into the studs. If you put bolts in and they’re just hanging on the drywall, and you put anything on the shelf, it’s going to rip right out. I lined up this screw with a stud. There’s a stud going right behind underneath here. So you put in the screw in the bracket on the side, in the holes that are provided. That’s where the bracket goes. And then you just put your bolt in and that clips on. But the problem is they’re only 16 inches apart. If I was to put a bracket on there, there’s only drywall on here and if you don’t know, drywall is just made out of material like chalk and it breaks really easy. So as soon as you put weight on it this thing will rip down. So use a drill bit and drill a couple other holes up underneath so you can put the bracket into another stud. I’ve already taken some blue masking tape to mark where the studs go. If you don’t know how to find the studs you can just use your knuckle and your ear, or you can get a stud sensor. These things are pretty cool you just put it on and push the button. When it beeps once it tells you it’s ready, slide it along the wall, and it lets you know when there’s a stud behind the wall. Another thing about studs is, you’re going to find that there’s almost always one near an outlet and so I can hear the pitch change so I know there’s a beam running up this side. So chances are, if your home’s built right, you’re going to have another one 16 inches this way and 16 inches that way.

Ok so I’m going to put this shelf right up on the molding at the bottom. But before I do, right on this back edge I’m going to take some of this foam felt sticker that they give, and then put it right here on the bottom edge so that it’s not the plastic bottom of the shelf riding right along this edge, that it’s got a little bit of a buffer to help it not creak.

Take this shelf and lift it up on the ledge. Okay so here’s where you need to put the bracket, there should be a beam behind this wall. So I’m going to take a pencil. Like a little circle in there I can pull the bookshelf away from the wall. There we go. I was a little off on that hole but that one made it. Here with that screw in the wall now I can put the bookshelf back up. And now I know exactly where this bracket needs to be centered, so I can mark the two top holes. Now with a 3/8” bit, drill out these holes. Just be careful not to go through. With the bracket now on, you put the shelf back on the wall, and these slip around the screw and then you can tighten it. Then they give you little plastic covers that just clip on. And that’s it.

Okay so this bracket is installed into a stud. Now you just have to do the same thing again here and do another stud and I’m done I could get a drywall mount that you insert and it flares out inside the drywall at Home Depot they sell these and Lowe’s. That way I could actually put some more brackets on although it doesn’t hold as strong. You still always want to make sure you’re attaching into a stud.