Shelves ... What thickness of wood?

[RogerD]

Anyone that built shelves in their van ... what thickness of wood did you use?

I'm undecided between 5/8 or 3/4 inch.

Any opinions?

 

[WanderingBiker]

guess it all comes down to how much weight your putting on the shelf...when you put a face rail on the front, that helps to stiffen up the flat shelf and keeps it from sagging....lots of weight 3/4,  not so much 5/8

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It also depends on how long the span is.  None of the shelves in my build are more than 16" long.  I have no sagging with 1/2" plywood.

 

[MrNoodly]

My main cabinet is steel, so that doesn't count. I built my pantry cabinet with 1/4" shelves. That works because they don't span a long distance and the load on them isn't heavy. If I had made them wider I could've strengthened them by adding a strip of molding to the front edge.

<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/4RkJfnf/shelf.jpg" alt="shelf" border="0" /></a>

 

[maki2]

Think about it in terms of those small metal pins in holes that support the adjustable shelves inside of cabinets. Those shelves are sometimes only about 1/2" thick and they only have four pins holding the selves up. Of course for a cabinet in a moving vehicle you would want to have fasteners that fix the shelves s into place with hardware and or glue.

Many people overbuild their cabinets inside of vans and trailers. A quarter inch thick shelf in a small cabinet is sufficient thickness. If you have heavy stuff it needs to be down on the floor.

 

[RogerD]

Most of the shelves will be about 26 to 30 inches and a couple will be 54 inches.

 

[MrNoodly]

Many people overbuild their cabinets inside of vans and trailers.

Yeah, for example they often frame them up with 2x4's when 1x2's are more than strong enough.

 

[highdesertranger]

lots of variables like how much weight? how long of a span? what's the width? I agree most people over build. there is no need for 2x4's or 2x6's anywhere in a build out. 5/8 or 3/4 ply what are you putting on those shelves? engine blocks? for shelves built right 1/4, or 3/8's is usually sufficient 1/2 if loading with heavy stuff. highdesertranger

 

[RogerD]

I will admit that 3/4 did seem a bit much to me but wanted to see what others thought.

5/8 seemed like a good choice. As my initial thinking was I wanted to build something strong.

1/2 was my initial thought, but for the modest weight gain, 5/8 seemed OK.

1/4 and 3/8 just seemed a bit wimpy to me, granted I won't likely be putting anything that heavy on them.

 

[sephson]

Choice of material also makes a difference in how thick it needs to be. For instance, 1/2 in. plywood is a lot stronger than 1/2" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard).

Also, adding a little bit of extra framing can add quite a bit of strength to the shelf, allowing you to use a lighter material. You could run a 1x1 along the edges of a 3 ft. x 1 ft. shelf made of 1/4" thick Luan and it'll be every bit as strong as that 1/2 in. plywood shelf for half the weight. Put another 1x1 running down the center and you could use 1/8 in. Luan with only a slight reduction in strength.

 

[maki2]

OK so your shelf unit is 54" long that is fine but are you planning on having a vertical support in the middle of that span? If you do put in that vertical support post then you can get away with a thinner shelf material and also avoid having a saggy shelf situation.

I have my bed base going width wise in my travel trailer renovation. There is a front face frame which is attached to the walls and three vertical supports with one in the center of the span. Because on occasion I might want to stored something wider under there than will fit between those vertical bars I made the one in the center to be removable for taking wider objects in and out of the cabinet. So with that kind of thinking you get more versatility while keeping everyday structural integrity.

When you do a RV build think outside of the box meaning you don't have to build cabinets and shelves the same way you build them for a house.

 

[sephson]

Actually, this is more what I had in mind when I suggested additional framing. Bear in mind, this is a rough drawing, thrown together in 5 minutes using the draw function in Word.

View attachment Shelf Sample.pdf


The extra framing adds strength, allowing the use of lighter materials, but also adds some complexity to the build. Glued and stapled, this will make for fairly strong, but lightweight shelves. A vertical support, like you just mentioned, at the center back of the shelf would add even more strength without impeding access from the front.

 

[bullfrog]

If the OP is just building shelves for light weight items they can easily be made out of insulation foam as a base. Hollow core doors can be used with the cut edges replaced with wood strips to any size to hold heavier items. Even heaver items can be held if thin plywood is glued on top of the door surface and still be lighter than thick enough plywood for the job. Big box stores sell metal racks almost cheaper than you can build them and plastic crates can be modified and hung to fit most needs on the racks keeping things in place while traveling. I have seen a 2"x 2" mounted running the lenght of the wall with the bottom back edge of the milk crate setting on dowel pins in the 2"x 2" with hook type locking latch at the top which allowed you to pull the pin and lift the crate off the wall, or had the front portion with an opening in the front so you had a lip to hold the items inside. It all depends on how much weight you want too haul around and khow much the items on the shelf weigh. It is way to easy to over load a van fultiming and way to easy to over build. If hauling super heavy stuff use a sky hook then you don't have to worry how much it weighs!

 

[ckelly78z]

You can always add some "L" brackets on the inside of the shelves (bolted to the back) to support the middle of the shelf above it.

Putting a small fascia trim on the front edge of the shelf will reinforce the rigidity, and keep items from sliding off while traveling as well....a win/win !