Ikea bookshelves not fitting over skirting boards ?how to solve

[NicolaM]

Thanks SLF for that, I bought a coping saw, and used it to saw off some of the end of the bookshelves (successfully, if not very neatly).
Petal, you weren't joking about it taking time! (And muscle power!!)
Simp: I've bought some masonry nails for the wall, which hopefully will do the job to stick the Ikea L plate (means I now don't have to buy a drill)
Would you believe it, the bookshelves are still not flush with the wall: ie, the walls mustn't be true!!!
Cheers all for all the good advise,
Nicola

 

[JoeB]

Yeah, you got there before me... the bookcase will only touch the wall at the top if the floor and walls are perpendicular... otherwise there will be a tapered gap running from top to bottom... or most often running from bottom to top.

The easy solution here is to cut an angle across the entire bottom of the bookcases, only a very slight cut.. easiest performed using a guided circular saw. Or use decorators caulk to seal the gap.

A jigsaw is the best tool for the cutouts.. or a coping saw as a human powered equivelent. It may not be possible to cut from the correct side, most likely you will have to cut from the outside of the bookcase which means any breakout occurs on that side. Unless you disassemble the bookcases.

I feel a router would be difficult, as you would need a template to guide the router.

Renting tools is always bad I feel.. as it is expensive. However if you only need the tool once...

Buying cheap tools in LIDL is the way to go... they'd have good drills, jigsaws and other tools at great prices. Only occassionally unfortunately.

It may be very difficult to nail the brackets to the wall.. really you need to drill the wall correctly. Surely you have a friend or a friend who could do this?

Or you could glue it but I'd prefer to use screws and brackets for a more reversible job.

Don't use fillers to fill the shelving holes!!!! It is never done... the filled holes will look just the same as the empty holes, they won't vanish. If you are filling them you'd be best off using something like playdough for kids, it is soft, will fill the holes quickly and will be much cleaner than wood fillers. (Probably won't suffer from 'sinking' either)

Cheers
Joe

 

[NicolaM]

Thanks Joe
I have enlisted a friend to help with a jigsaw to cut the cutouts from the 2nd set of shelves I have (even thought the coping saw worked, and was cheap, it was a horrible experience, would have needed a work bench to clamp the wood on ideally, to try and secure it while cutting. The blades kept getting stuck (so kept losing grip on the chipboard, and coming off it, skinning fingers in the process). It was a good idea, but just can't face using it again!
I have considered the masonry nails again, and I think as you said, they would be hard to remove. Maybe not such a smart idea after all.
At least I have some war wounds to show for my trouble (tip of the day: wear gloves while using coping saw!!)
Cheers

Nicola

 

[Bronte]

I don't think you should wear gloves when using saws. Don't fill in the holes, you won't even notice them when the selves are filled in and you never know when you might need to change the positioning of the shelves, I have Billy and I've changed the shelves from time to time. I never attached it at the top to the wall, it seems to be fairly solid to me. But if it's leaning I guess you do need to.

 

[JoeB]

.... would be a jig saw with a good shallow blade (designed to cut curves). As jig saws cut on the up-stroke, the cleanest cut will always be on the side opposite to the one you run the saw across. Break out will occur on the face the saw runs along, so take this into account if possible.

Hi Leo, I have recently been made aware that it's possible to get jigsaw blades that cut on the downstroke, that would be very handy for kitchen worktops and all materials really, after all mostly the lines for cutting are made on the show side of the workpiece...

I'm a guy who likes his power tools, but I'm not aware of anything on the market that allows both rotary drilling action along with reciprocating sawing. There are a number of 'multi-tools' available, but these are all rotary. You can get spiral 'saw' bits to use with these, but I wouldn't recommend them here.
Leo

I have never heard of such a tool either... it may be possible to get a jigsaw attachment for a drill but it would only be any good if very well made...

Those spiral drill bits or drill rasps are very poorly designed... drills aren't designed for sideways forces on the bearings (axial forces?)... when using the spiral bits the tendency is to push sideways very hard as they don't cut very well... this must be bad for the drill. It may be ok for very thin material, i.e 3mm.

 

[Leo]

Hi Leo, I have recently been made aware that it's possible to get jigsaw blades that cut on the downstroke...

Interesting, must keep an eye out for those.

I have never heard of such a tool either... it may be possible to get a jigsaw attachment for a drill but it would only be any good if very well made...

In the mean time, I remembered [broken link removed] combo tool from B&D. Might do the job for the very occasional user, but I'm not a big fan of combos.
Leo

 

[deadwood]

Don't fill in the holes, you won't even notice them when the selves are filled in and you never know when you might need to change the positioning of the shelves.

I've a table lamp in mine so the holes looked a bit industrial, but I hear ya. Still turned out pretty neat. I'm only a novice and don't take on anything I can't undo!

 

[S.L.F]

Leo don't know if this link thing will work for me or not but I'll give it a go

[broken link removed]

 

[Leo]

Thanks for that S.L.F.
Leo