Billy Bookcase for college dorm - can't mount!

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Billy Bookcase for college dorm - can't mount!

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1ramparts
Ago 6, 2009, 3:47 pm

I'm going to be a senior in college next year and *finally* get my own room, and one big enough for a bookcase! I was going to get one of those nice Ikea Billy bookcases, but it says it should be secured to the wall, and now I'm worried. I think the floor in my room is pretty level, but who knows? I obviously can't start drilling holes in the wall, so what's the best solution here? Am I at a major risk of having my bookshelf topple and my textbooks, CDs, classics of the Western canon, etc., all get crushed? :D

2TheoClarke
Ago 6, 2009, 3:54 pm

Buy or make some wedges to ensure that the top of the case leans towards the wall (even if that means that you have to position the base slighty further into the room).

3Nicole_VanK
Ago 6, 2009, 3:57 pm

Even if your floor isn't really level, you can usually fix any wobbling by putting something underneath. Securing it to a wall - well, that's pretty standard safety advice (to avoid liability I guess). Putting the heaviest books on the lowest shelves helps to stabilize as well.

Mind you, the Ikea Billy (as I know it in Europe, but I'm assuming the American is pretty much the same) is not a terribly sturdy bookcase.

4ramparts
Ago 6, 2009, 3:59 pm

Thanks! So when I get to the room and have the bookcase set up, will I be able to tell how sturdy it is just by seeing whether it leans away from the wall, giving it a little push, etc.?

Also, where would I look for a sturdier/better bookcase?

5Aerulan
Ago 6, 2009, 4:00 pm

Ok so you really have to take this with a grain of salt but I've never mounted the billy bookcases (the tall ones) I use. And nothing has ever fallen over. Not a high risk of earthquakes here, and I like to rearrange furniture seasonally so it would be too much trouble to secure them to the wall. That said I try to always put the heavier books on the bottom shelves and use lighter loads at the top. I've also used shims to angle them towards the wall a few times in spots where the floor isn't correctly level. Or where I was worried about it tilting.

6ramparts
Ago 6, 2009, 4:04 pm

Thanks for the advice - my school is in earthquake-free Connecticut, so I'm not worried about the state of the bookcase being seriously perturbed ;) Ideally I'd have the books on the top few shelves, or at least middle-to-top, rather than the very bottom, for aesthetic reasons...

7hailelib
Ago 6, 2009, 4:24 pm

Heavy items on the bottom couple of shelves plus shims should make them sturdy enough.

8infiniteletters
Ago 6, 2009, 5:00 pm

6: Aesthetics... stability. I'd say stability wins myself.

9ramparts
Ago 6, 2009, 5:36 pm

Fair enough :) My point is, I'm wondering what exactly the tradeoff is, e.g., about how unsafe is it with textbooks on the upper middle shelves, etc. Or better yet, how to tell (any idea how to get an advance warning if it's at the tipping point?).

10infiniteletters
Ago 6, 2009, 6:11 pm

Uh... if it starts leaning?

Were you planning on having nothing on the bottom shelves? *boggles*

11ramparts
Ago 6, 2009, 6:31 pm

We'll see how many books I end up bringing :P I also have CDs, DVDs, etc., though those might go to the very top.

12yosarian
Modificato: Ago 6, 2009, 6:39 pm

We have a room lined with billy bookcases and I've never secured any to the wall ... well there was that one time when we tried to put two smaller ones on top of each other ... but we promised never to talk about that again ...
I've never had any problems at all, I've tried the wedges under the front of the bookcase but didn't feel they were too necessary after a while.
another tip (and handy for dealing with expanding TBR piles) is to get the height extension shelf for the top of the bookcase ... I find when it's added there's such a small gap between the top of it and the ceiling that there is no way it could topple forward. It's a good excuse for having to add extra height and then of course filling in the extra shelving :)

*edit - you get the idea from the picture on my profile page, they're billy bookcases with the extra shelf on the top. It's an old picture, we've since painted them to match the colour of the wall which seemed like such a good idea after a few glasses of wine ... as all - ultimately bad - ideas do :)

13staffordcastle
Ago 6, 2009, 6:46 pm

The wedges are particularly necessary if your room has wall-to-wall carpeting; this is held in position at the edges with little spikes pointing upward, and when the back of the bookcase is resting right up against the wall, it is sitting on them. This causes it to cant a little bit forward. The wedges counteract this.

14Aerulan
Ago 6, 2009, 7:19 pm

6: Well I sort of figure if I can give the bookcase a bit of a shove and it doesn't rock that's a good indicator. Seriously though you don't want all the weight to be towards the top of the bookcase that's just exacerbating any possibility of it tipping over. It doesn't have to be books on the bottom shelf but it should be something weighty that will help anchor it down. I'd put cds and dvds on the top shelves if it were me and textbooks and similar things towards the bottom. Just be sure there is less weight above the fixed shelf in the middle than what is below it, good enough policy. Better to sacrifice a bit of aesthetics in favor of not being crushed by accident.

13: Another thing I did when I had carpeting was to put down Ivar shelves under the Billys it made things more stable and dispersed the weight better. It was terrible old shag carpeting though. May not be necessary on better carpet.

15jessicariddoch
Apr 28, 2010, 1:19 pm

This is so old, but what the hay. I thought i would add my tuppence worth.
The advice here is good, wedges and keep weight to the bottom, the only think that I cannot understand is how you would find room on just one bookcase for something other than books