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22 September, 2011

And the Shelves Came Tumbling Down

With apologies to lovers of traditional music, when Dianna's shelves did just that, I felt like wailing my way through a few choruses.

Joshua fought the battle at Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
Joshua fought the battle at Jericho
And the walls came tumblin' down
- Traditional African-American Spiritual

Turns out it was an easier (although time-consuming) fix than I originally thought. After trying to explain to a couple of folks what I was doing to correct the problem, I made a rather busy diagram to make everything crystal clear. What is they say about a picture being worth?
An Easy Fix
I still have a few shelves - a small one in the laundry room over the deep sink, and a whole bunch out in the pool house utility room, to do, but once I get that done, I'll be all caught up. I just have to remember, that any new shelving that anchors to concrete walls, gets done exactly this same way.

I can pretty much guarantee that all my shelves are now bomb-proof. And if not, there's always 'Plan - C' - whatever that might be.

14 comments:

ajbaxter said...

Nice write-up on your "anchor solution". I think the key to your solution was using the longer screws and the epoxy. The plastic anchors by themselves are too flexible. Did you use anchors designed for concrete applications?

AJ

Dave Rider said...

Hi A.J.,

Ahh, not really. Down here, you use what's available. The blue ones were probably more suited for sheetrock applications. I thought about using lead anchors, but the only sizes easily available at the time, meant using a screw that was too big for the shelf standards.

Thanks for the nice comment.

Cheers,
Dave

Mardena said...

In your next life you may find a career as a technical writer! Keep on bloggin', Dave!

Dave Rider said...

Hi Mardena,

I did a little of that at a couple of places I worked over the years. I got in trouble for not writing in the 'company/agency style'.

They always wanted everything to read like all the other drivel produced as consistently as possible - which made for agonizing reading.

Thanks for your comment.

Cheers,
Dave

JRinSC said...

Dave, I understood everything except what happened in step 6. That one left something to be explained -- I think. lol

Other than that it was a great explanation! What software did you use to create the diagram? It was very well done!

Julian

Dave Rider said...

Hi Julian,

Oh, sure. Be one to seek out the details.

Step 6 is obviously of a higher order than your normal assembly processes and therefore requires a sublime mind capable of grasping ethereal concepts.

It's one of those things that go without saying.

Your comment gave me a real chuckle. Dianna and I each went over that diagram before I posted it. So much for our grasping ethereal concepts. We can barely count.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Rider said...

Nor can I contain my thoughts in one comment... It's dangerous having a mind like a steel trap.

The software is Libre Office 3. It's available free and comes with a whole suite of products - just like MS Office and is very easy to use.

Dave

JRinSC said...

Neat - I have downloaded and used Open Office but I haven't heard of this one. Thanks for the info... I'll take a look at it. I'm surprised that I not heard of it before this.

My mind is another steel trap that has entirely too much rust developing in the important areas!!

Julian

Dave Rider said...

Hi Julian,

Libre Office is based on Open Office - it's just not connected with Oracle.
Apparently LO includes it's source code so it'll support more outside development.
For all intents and purposes, they're the same right now. It sounds like the techno-wizards are expecting greater things out of LO than OO eventually.

That's more than I know.

Cheers,
Dave

PS - WD-40 is supposed to help with rusty stuff. - d

JRinSC said...

Thanks for the info Dave. I have used OOffice quite often on the times that I didn't have a good copy of Microsoft Office to use. Works fine and I have both on this computer. Still the drawing was well done...I'll have to play with it some..

Julian

JRinSC said...

Missed your WD-40 postscript the first time (must be another rusty spot) but you are right. Wish I had invested in that company many years ago...would be down there with you right now.

Julian

JRinSC said...

Missed your postscript (another spot of rust I guess). Normally I always rub on some WD after every shower (or at least once a week whichever is more often) -- maybe I better start drinking it?

Alan said...

Hi Dave,

Wish I had seen this article before as I could have saved you a lot of time and work.

You just needed to replace the plastic "rawlplugs" with wooden dowel ,from Villa Imports or National Hardware in 1/4" Dia and up. Or,if not available, you can use pencils in lieu of the 1/4".

Just hammer into the hole and break off or saw flush. The screw will expand the wood to tighten it in the hole and it will not pull out like the plastic ones do.

If you can remember that before plastic was invented Rawlplugs used to be made from a wooden fibre material and they worked really well. In those days an impact drill was a thick heavy metal punch with a drill at one end and you made the hole by hitting it with a hammer.

Ahh - memories!

Take care
Alan

Dave Rider said...

Hi Alan,
I should have thought of that myself. I've used wooden matches and other slivers for stripped holes in wood. It'd probably work as well in concrete. Ah, well. I'll try to keep it in mind in the future.

Cheers,
Dave