It’s not a necessary to be a DIY master before putting up a shelf in your home, but a little knowledge can help. James Cork, a handyman at Taskrabbit, an online platform for finding help with odd jobs, says: “As long as you follow a clear step–by–step guide and have the correct tools, anyone can do it.” 

Whatever type of shelf you’re going to put up, it’s always wise to tick off a checklist of equipment before you get started. Nothing is more frustrating than finding you’ve misplaced your tape measure or lent your hammer to a neighbour when you’ve already kicked off the project.  

To avoid being faced with any unwelcome surprises, you’ll need to check what’s behind the walls. Are there any wires or water pipes hidden out of sight? It’s important to be sure, to avoid the hazard of banging any nails into live wires or the costly expense of drilling through water pipes. 

Cork gives Exceptional his top tips on how to detect pipes and cables behind walls: “Take a look at the location of your sockets and knock on either side of the wall to make sure you’re not going to hang the brackets where any pipes or wires are placed,” and he warns: “I’d recommend never making a hole anywhere directly above a plug or light socket.”  

Why avoid drilling holes above plug or light sockets? That’s where the supply cables are most likely to be. 

It’s slightly easier to check for water pipes. “Turn on the water, one tap at a time, put your ear to the wall and listen for the flow of water,” advises Cork. If you can hear water flowing, you’ll need to locate your shelving elsewhere. 

If you’re in any doubt about whether there are electrical cables or water pipes behind the wall, he suggests contacting a professional to avoid making an expensive mistake. Alternatively, you could invest in a pipe, cable and stud detector, like the Bosch Truvo Multi detector, available at B&Q for £38. 

Will you be knocking into a drywall or brick wall? Simply knocking on the wall will give you the answer. If it sounds hollow and airy, it’s most likely a drywall, and if it sounds dense, it’s probably a solid material, like brick, concrete or plaster.  

But why is it important to know? “It will determine the weight of the shelf you’ll be able to hang, what it will be able to hold, and the type of fixings you will need,” says Cork. “If you’re working with plasterboard, you’ll need a shelf that is lightweight, while something heavier is better suited to a masonry wall.” 

When it comes to fixing the screws to the wall, with brick, you can use standard wall plugs, but with plasterboard, which is thinner and more brittle, you’ll need to ensure you’ve got fixings suitable for plasterboard walls. If you’re putting up a light shelf for display that isn’t going to take a heavy load, standard plasterboard fixings will do the job. 

Will you be knocking into a drywall or brick wall? Simply knocking on the wall will give you the answer. If it sounds hollow and airy, it’s most likely a drywall, and if it sounds dense, it’s probably a solid material, like brick, concrete or plaster.  

But why is it important to know? “It will determine the weight of the shelf you’ll be able to hang, what it will be able to hold, and the type of fixings you will need,” says Cork. “If you’re working with plasterboard, you’ll need a shelf that is lightweight, while something heavier is better suited to a masonry wall.” 

When it comes to fixing the screws to the wall, with brick, you can use standard wall plugs, but with plasterboard, which is thinner and more brittle, you’ll need to ensure you’ve got fixings suitable for plasterboard walls. If you’re putting up a light shelf for display that isn’t going to take a heavy load, standard plasterboard fixings will do the job. 

Place the metal strip on the wall at the height you want, making sure the hole along each prong (the bars inserting into the shelf) is facing downwards.

Use a spirit level to ensure the metal strip is horizontal. Then mark the fixing hole positions with a pencil, having made sure you’ve already checked behind the wall for pipes and wires.

Mark the length of your wall plugs on the drill bit using a piece of tape. To do this, measure the length of the plug, then take the same measurement from the tip of the drill bit toward the drill.

This indicates how much of the drill bit you want to disappear into the wall, so that you know exactly how deep to drill each hole. The wall plugs will help the screws to grip the masonry and secure the wall fixing. 

Here’s the fun part – but it could get messy, especially if you’re drilling through brickwork, so lay down a dust sheet and pop on a dust mask and some goggles. And if you’ve got a helper at hand, ask them to hold a dustpan below the drill to catch the dirt.

Now you can begin to drill into the wall until you reach your tape mark. Put your drill in reverse to bring it out of the wall without causing damage. 

Tap the wall plugs into the holes with a hammer until they are flush with the wall. 

You can now screw the supporting bar into place and slide the shelf onto the prongs. 

Finally, secure the shelf on the underside with the supplied screws. And that’s your shelf complete!

Hold the shelf against the wall and make a pencil mark where you’d like the bottom of the shelf to be positioned. As detailed above, make sure you’ve already checked behind the wall for pipes and wires. Then, mark where the first bracket should be, and the distance to the next bracket.

To avoid anything rolling off the shelf, check that your marks are level by holding a spirit level to the wall where you’ve placed your pencil marks. 

Hold the first bracket up to your pencil mark, check it’s straight and place another pencil mark through the bracket’s fixing holes onto the wall. Do the same again for the second bracket.

If you are attaching more than two brackets, fit the outer brackets first, and then add any supplementary brackets, ensuring they are equal distances apart. 

Follow step 3, 4 and 5 above, in the section How to put up a Floating Shelf, to prepare the wall for the wall plugs. 

Now the holes are drilled, and the wall plugs are inserted, you can screw in the brackets. 

Place the shelf across the top of the brackets and make a pencil mark through the bracket holes underneath the shelf. Remove the shelf and place on a flat surface. Drill pilot holes into the bottom of the shelf, making sure you don’t drill through to the other side. (If your shelf’s upper and lower surfaces are different, check that you’re drilling into the underside).

Place the shelf back onto the brackets and secure the short screws through the brackets to the underside of the shelf.