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Moving into a new apartment in a couple weeks and I'm planning on making the classic brick and plywood shelves to put books and stuff. Any tips for me? Do I have to have it secured to a wall?

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Do you mean a couple bricks stacked, with plywood running on top, then more bricks stacked, etc? Do you happen to have a bunch of bricks laying around? If not, Ikea, Walmart, home improvement stores, etc etc, all have pretty cheap shelves.. – gregmac Apr 4 '11 at 2:36
Yeah that's exactly what I mean. I've got some extra bricks at home that I would be willing to bring up and use. – MaxMackie Apr 4 '11 at 2:37
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don't think I ever hear "brick and plywood" called "classic" before :) – warren Apr 4 '11 at 15:27
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@warren - classic would be beer crates, brick and plywood is a bit Yuppie – mgb Apr 26 '11 at 16:42

1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Brick-and-board shelves are more of a makeshift, anything-goes project. However:

Securing the shelving to the wall is a good idea, especially in an earthquake-prone area.

Putting the bricks all in vertical lines will stop the boards from bending as much.

Cinder blocks are a good choice, as the stacks for bricks can topple.

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+1 for using cinder blocks. – auujay Apr 4 '11 at 15:19
thanks for the info. found some other stuff online. this will be fun to make :) – MaxMackie Apr 4 '11 at 16:06

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