1. How to Fasten Shelf Standards to Solid Wood Paneling. You just screw the standards to the wall wherever you want them, using the screws provided. Drill holes for the screws, and rub a little soap or beeswax on the screw threads to make them easier to drive. This type of installation will support any reasonable load. Your only concern is to space the standards close enough so the shelves won’t sag.
The Easy Way With Shelves
I don’t know how the situation is in your house, but if it’s like that in most American homes, you probably find yourself in a state of continual shelf crisis. No sooner have you installed some new ones, than someone buys more books or records, one of the children will take up a new hobby that calls for storage space, or you get the feeling there is too much junk lying around here and there, and more shelves are the answer.
Masonry Fasteners
When you are faced with, an irresistible yen to fasten shelves, cabinets, or other fixtures to solid masonry walls in basements or on the outside of the house, there are a number of different fastening devices that you can use. But, unless you feel life will be incomplete without that whatever screwed tightly to that brick or concrete wall, forget it, or call a handyman.
Hollow Wall Fasteners
Sooner or later you are going to want to hang a mirror or painting, or put up some new shelves on an inside wall. Though your first impulse may be to get out your hammer and drive in some nails, this rarely works _at least not for long. Since interior walls are usually hollow, the nail merely breaks into empty space, and it won’t be long before your new shelves come down with a bang,
Wood Screws
Screws not only hold better than nails in wood, but, when properly set, can also draw pieces together to make a stronger, neater union than you can achieve with nails. Whenever you want your work to hold up for a long period under hard use, or in places subject to strain, screws are the fasteners of choice _for example, putting up shelves, drapery hardware, and hinges of all types.
Nails and How to Choose Them
There are nails for every purpose. The kinds that you will use most often, however, are common nails and finishing nails. The common nail is just what its name implies: it is the ordinary, everyday, flatheaded nail with a diamond-shaped point.
Measuring Tools
The handyman’s first measuring tool should be a flexible steel tape. We have put it in our kits as a home survival tool. Then, you can invest in a folding wooden rule like the one shown in the fixit tool photograph.
Tools for Drilling Holes
While you go around your home tightening up this and that, you are bound to discover six new places in which you want to screw something new into place. For the small screws on drapery hardware, cup hooks, and such, you can start the hole with your hand auger. Sooner or later, however, you are going to want to hang up something that calls for screws longer or wider than you can start with that handy tool.
Saws and Sawing
Saws are really more for making it than fixing it. Of all your first fixit tools, it is likely to be the one you will use least of all. Nevertheless, when you need a saw there is no substitute. You can possibly use a knife as a screwdriver, but you cannot saw a board with a breadknife.
