Tag Archives: Build

Floating shelves offer a sleek, modern look, creating the illusion that they are magically attached to the wall without visible brackets. However, the conventional wisdom for hanging anything substantial is to “find a stud.” But what do you do when your shelf needs to be positioned precisely where there isn’t one? Fortunately, with modern hardware and the right technique, you can securely and confidently build floating shelves without studs. Understanding the Challenge and the Solution

November 02, 2025   Shane

The primary challenge of skipping studs is that you’re relying solely on the drywall or plaster to hold the weight. Standard wall anchors are insufficient for the significant leverage forces exerted on a floating shelf. The solution lies in specialized hardware designed to distribute weight across a wide area of the wall’s surface, providing a secure hold far beyond the capabilities of a simple toggle bolt.

Essential Hardware for Stud-Free Installation

Your success hinges on choosing the right hardware. The two most effective options are:

  • Toggle Bolts or Snap Toggles: These are excellent for medium-duty applications. A toggle bolt features spring-loaded wings that open up behind the drywall, creating a large anchor point. Snap toggles are a more modern, often sturdier, version that locks into place. They are ideal for shelves holding books, decorative items, or small-to-medium electronics.
  • Drywall Shelf Brackets (The Best Choice): This is the professional’s choice for a true stud-free floating shelf. These are metal rods or brackets specifically designed for this purpose. They install deep into the drywall and use a mechanism that grips a very large area of the wall from behind. Brands like OOK, E-Z ANCOR, and others offer models with weight capacities often exceeding 100 lbs per bracket.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Installation

Materials and Tools You’ll Need:

  • Floating shelf (purchased or custom-built with a hollow channel)
  • Drywall shelf brackets or heavy-duty toggle bolts
  • Stud finder (to confirm the absence of studs)
  • Pencil
  • Level (a 2-4 foot level is ideal)
  • Power drill
  • Appropriate drill bits (including a spade bit or hole saw if needed)
  • Measuring tape
  • Screwdriver
  • Hammer (for some bracket types)

The Installation Process:

Step 1: Plan and Mark
Use a stud finder to map out your wall and confirm your desired location is stud-free. Decide on the height and spacing of your shelf brackets. Using a level and a pencil, draw a perfectly horizontal line on the wall to indicate the top or bottom edge of where the shelf will sit.

Step 2: Mark the Bracket Locations
Following the manufacturer’s instructions for your specific hardware, mark the exact points on the wall where you need to drill holes for the brackets. Ensure these marks are level and spaced correctly for your shelf.

Step 3: Drill the Holes
Using the correct size drill bit as specified for your anchors or brackets, drill straight into the wall at your marked points. Be careful not to apply excessive pressure, and be aware of potential wiring or plumbing behind the wall.

Step 4: Install the Wall Anchors or Brackets

  • For Toggle Bolts: Insert the toggle through the shelf’s mounting bracket (if applicable), fold the wings back, and insert it into the hole. Once the wings snap open behind the drywall, tighten the bolt firmly until the shelf bracket is snug against the wall.
  • For Drywall Shelf Brackets: These typically require you to insert the bracket into the hole and then activate a locking mechanism (often by turning a screw) that expands a metal plate or arms behind the drywall. Follow the package instructions meticulously.

Step 5: Slide the Shelf Onto the Brackets
Once all brackets are securely installed and level, carefully slide your floating shelf onto them. You may need to gently tap it into place with a rubber mallet. Some systems include a set-screw to lock the shelf in place permanently.

Critical Considerations for Safety and Success

  • Respect Weight Limits: Always check the weight rating of your anchors or brackets and be conservative in your estimates. The weight capacity is for a perfectly installed anchor in good drywall.
  • Drywall Condition Matters: This method works best on sturdy, undamaged drywall. If your wall is brittle, has existing holes, or is made of plaster, the holding power will be significantly reduced.
  • When to Call a Professional: If you are planning to store very heavy items (e.g., large collections of books, heavy pottery, or electronics) or are unsure about the wall’s integrity, it is always safer to consult a professional. They can install a backing board between studs to which you can securely mount your shelf.

By selecting the appropriate heavy-duty hardware and following a meticulous installation process, you can successfully and safely build beautiful floating shelves exactly where you want them, studs or no studs.

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How to build a dog house for your puppy

December 04, 2024   Matt

How to build a dog house for your puppy

So you’d like to know how to build a dog house? Well, that means we’re talking to less than 50% of all dog owners. Why? Because current survey information at OpinionTrone says most dog owners (over 50%) allow their pets on the family couch. Furthermore, if you allow your pet on the couch, chances are that you do not HAVE a dog house!
But for those of you who do, there are really good things to remember about how to build a dog house:
1. Any good how to build a dog house plan should begin by making sure the house is big enough to accommodate your dog’s ultimate grown-up size. You would not like to live in a house whose ceiling was below your head height–neither would your dog. Most humans like about 2 feet of air above themselves in a room in order to live without feelings of claustrophobia! That comfort zone is about 1/3 of their standing height. Allow your pet the same airiness. Figure out how tall it will stand as a mature pet and make sure the ceiling of the dog house is 1/3 again taller!
2. Raise the house a few inches off the ground to allow air and water to flow beneath. Ventilation is important for the health of your dog and to dissuade pests from invading its home. A few nickel-sized holes in the walls under the eaves should be sufficient. Install a wind block inside the house so the dog can use the heat of its own body to warm up the area if it is really cold and windy outside. Any good plan for how to build a dog house will have a house big enough so that a partial wall will allow the dog to escape the elements. The dog can choose whether to just sleep in the entry room or go around the inner archway maze wall into the inner sanctum. Both areas could have bedding or a pillow, such as one filled with cedar chips to discourage fleas.
3. Make the floor just the littlest bit slanted toward the doorway. Any good “how to build a dog house” plan will make certain that any rain that does enter via the ventilation holes or doorway automatically drains out. Make sure that the roof is built at a slant, as well, for obvious run-off reasons. Do not paint the inside of the house, but do make sure that the house is well insulated.
4. Make sure the dog house faces away from the major storm direction. In the U.S., most storms come from the south and west. Not all, mind you, but most! So most how to build a dog house plans will suggest that the ideal placement of a dog house door is to the east. That way, even in the wintertime, the cold north wind will not whip inclement weather into the dog’s entryway.
5. Finally, almost all how to build a dog house plans will have you put hinges on the roof of the house for easy cleaning. When you clean the dog, you should clean its house and bedding–just as faithfully as you would wish your pet to be to you!

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Tips to Build an Energy-Efficient Home

October 25, 2023   Matt

Tips to Build an Energy-Efficient Home

Building an Energy Efficient Home
With energy costs rising and concern for the environment, more and more people are expressing an interest in building energy efficient homes. Not only are the effects positive from an environmental standpoint, but they can also positively affect the wallet, saving money in heating and cooling costs. By following a few guidelines in building and landscaping, you can have an energy efficient home.
Tight construction tightens the air penetration from home exterior and in the process improves the energy efficiency of the home. Tighter construction ensures that the air gaps, generally caused during framing are enveloped well by air sealing. This also improves the home air quality since the polluted outside air will not be able to affect the cleaner inside air. Thus, cooling in winter and heating in summer is aptly prevented.
Make use of improved insulation to stop heat transfer through the home. If insulation, that is free of crimping, gaps, and compression is carefully installed it can help keep warm air inside during winter months and cool air inside during the summer. This way you will have much less need of the heater or air conditioner because your house will retain the desired temperature. It will save you money in energy costs.
Also, consider high performance windows that are no longer very expensive. Anyway, you will recover the extra cost through these energy efficient windows because they come in improved materials like double glazing and special coatings that act as insulators for the glass. They do not hamper your view through the window, but they stop heat transfer effectively.
In addition to using high performance windows, make sure that the window framing is tight and that materials with low conduction are used. These materials include vinyl, fiberglass, and wood. Metal is a good heat conductor, and therefore not a good choice as a window frame.
Choose energy efficient equipment to heat and cool your home. You can buy this from many heating and cooling stores. You can lower your bills by using such equipment and save a lot of money and be more comfortable, too.
Landscaping is a very important part of building a perfect house. Landscaping features like trees can go a long way on making your house energy efficient. Trees provide shade and cool sorroundings in summers and block chilly winds in winters. Though fully planted trees act as natural air conditioners they can actually help you save a lot on energy costs.
You can make your home more comfortable and enhance the air quality of home interiors by making your home energy efficient. This helps you attain lower energy consumption bills that weigh less on your budget. Today’s technology and capabilities can actually help reduce unwanted drafts by resourcefully landscaping and building home that efficiently uses energy.

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Simple Seated Exercises Build Senior Strength And Flexibility (4)

March 15, 2023   Matt

Simple Seated Exercises Build Senior Strength And Flexibility

Aging can be frightening. It reminds you of your own mortality and can come with a host of troublesome health problems. In spite of that, there are millions of people out there staying active and aging gracefully. This article will help you become one of those people.

To have an easier time as you age, you need to make sure that you take care of yourself now, no matter how old you are. Eat a balanced diet, and try not to carry around extra weight. Not only will that make your day to day life easier, it will also expand your life.

It might be harder as you age to take care of things as you used to. Now is the time to simplify. This could be as easy as cleaning out a drawer or even a closet. Once you have seen that you can reduce the clutter, and get rid of things that don’t serve a purpose any longer, you can then move on to other parts of your life that need simplification.

Getting plenty of calcium will help you live longer and keep your bones healthy. When there is not enough calcium in your body, it will take the calcium from your bones. Over the years the bones will become weak and brittle which leads to fractures and osteoporosis. If you do not have enough calcium in your diet, consider taking a calcium supplement.

How old we look often has a lot to do with how our skin looks. If it is wrinkled, has brown spots, lacks a healthy glow–it shows old age. But today there are many nutrients and creams available to alleviate these conditions and make our skin healthy and our appearance younger.

Feel free to have a drink and a good meal once in a while. Even if you are watching your diet closely and do not consume alcohol on a regular basis, you should take the time to have a good glass of wine that you used to love and a great meal that was your favorite. Enjoy things in life.

Try to quit smoking or reduce the number of cigarettes that you smoke each day. Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death. However, it is never too late to stop smoking, and as soon as you quit, your risk of having a heart attack decreases. By quitting you could also save yourself a lot of money.

People who live the healthiest and live longest have deep social connections. They have huge social networks of friends and family who love them and care for them. Develop your social connections, connect with your family, and make a positive effort on building and maintaining those deep social connections that will help you live longer.

When it comes down to it, your age really is just a number. The tips above provide a means to take control of the aging process and put your best foot forward. Conquer those health problems, stay active, and take care of yourself and your golden years will be a time to remember.

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How to Build a Home Sauna

February 07, 2023   Matt

How to Build a Home Sauna

Three Important Questions to Answer Before Building
Considering that home saunas are believed to produce numerous health benefits and provide a relaxing spa experience, it’s no wonder than more and more people want to know how to build a home sauna. The answer to this question depends on several factors, including your budget, the space available, and how handy you are. There are three important questions to answer before you begin building your home sauna.
What Will You Use For Heat?
The first factor to evaluate when planning how to build a sauna is your heat source. Will you use electricity, gas, wood or some other type of energy? Many people consider the wood-burning sauna to be the top choice, especially if you have easy access to wood and no hesitations about burning it.
Wood provides a pleasant aroma and a traditional atmosphere, but obtaining the wood can be quite labor intensive unless you buy it already cut. Before choosing this heating method, it is also important to know if local building regulations will allow a wood stove, and if your home owner’s insurance will cover it.
Electric stoves are most popular with people who don’t have a wood supply available or who don’t want to spend time and money cutting and hauling wood or dealing with ash disposal. Nearly all homes have electricity available already, so it is a convenient heat source for both indoor and outdoor saunas. In addition, electricity is the standard power source for infrared saunas, which produce radiant heat with special electric heaters. If you are interested in infrared saunas, electricity will likely be your heating source.
Gas is usually cheaper than electric and provides a practical choice for those concerned about budgets. It is a clean fuel source and relatively easy to obtain no matter where you live. When using gas as a heating source, it is important to test for carbon monoxide.
Often times, your heat source will determine whether you build an indoor sauna or an outdoor structure. If you use wood for heat, it may be inconvenient and messy to haul wood into the house. And insurance policy may only allow wood heat in a separate, outdoor building. Also, an electric heater requires wiring that may not be available for a large model or outdoor sauna without an expensive bill to an electrician.
Where Will You Put Your Sauna?
Once you have decided how you will generate heat in your home sauna, the next step is to decide where you will put the sauna. As has been mentioned, your heat source may impact where you decide to locate your sauna.
For example, if you intend to heat with electricity, you may not be able to put your sauna down on the edge of the lake without special wiring brought in. If you plan to cut your own wood, you may want to place your sauna close to the woodpile.
In addition, for steam saunas, a water supply is an important consideration when deciding on a location. Indoor saunas may need to have plumbing and drains installed. Outdoor saunas will also need plumbing unless you intend to collect water or haul if from a faucet or nearby pond.
But many of these choices are purely for convenience or budgetary reasons. In reality, your choices for a sauna location are limited only by your imagination, and people have come up with some very creative sauna locations and designs.
In addition to more traditional home saunas built in bathrooms, basements or in separate sauna buildings, people have put saunas on floating platforms in a pond or lake; they have built them on trailer beds, and even in a van or the back of a pickup. Of course these unique plans may require a bit more adaptation or special materials, but the Internet is filled with design plans for all types of saunas from standard to sensational.
What Design Features Do You Want?
Choosing your design is the next step in building a sauna. Do you want something simple that is prefabricated and ready to put together? Or do you want to cut the wood and collect the stones yourself? Are you handy with tools or at least willing to learn? Or would you prefer to hire someone who knows how to build a sauna?
Another design aspect is the size of the sauna. How many people do you plan to accommodate? How big do you want your stove or heater to be and how much are you willing to spend for heat and materials? Do you want a shower area included? How about a room for changing or cooling off? All of these questions will help you determine the size of your sauna, which in turn will impact your overall design.
Infrared saunas and some smaller, standard saunas come as precut kits with the wood, heaters, rocks, or other materials all included. These kits can often be assembled in just a few hours. Many manufacturers will take your dimensions and cut the materials to fit, often including benches and pre-hung doors.
Maybe you want to use an existing design or create one of your own. Brochures from sauna manufacturers and retailers provide good ideas, and staff usually are willing to answer questions. In addition, there are numerous Internet sites that are devoted purely to saunas and related information. Many include design plans and instructions as well as discussion forums to ask questions and learn from others’ experiences. A simple search will bring up both personal Web sites and those from manufacturers.
When deciding how to build a sauna, the wide variety of choices in designs, locations, materials and heat sources make the planning fun, yet essential, to the overall success of the project. The nearly limitless options available in saunas make it easy to find a home sauna to fit any budget, location, and lifestyle.

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If bacteria build up in an abscess inside your mouth, it could lead to chronic bad breath

March 20, 2022   Matt

If bacteria build up in an abscess inside your mouth, it could lead to chronic bad breath

Do not underrate the power of alternative bad breath cure. The medicines used in this process have the potency of getting rid of the bacteria that causes foul smell in the body of the individual. The medicines penetrate deep into the cells and get rid of these bacteria. The result is usually effective.|The debris of food particles that accumulates inside the crevices of the teeth or gums usually causes bad breath. Alternative bad breath medicines can penetrate these parts of the body and kill the bacteria. Most doctors often recommend this type of cure.

If you have decided to use alternative bad breath cures then you need to follow the right procedure. To start this cure process, it is advisable that you start with regular dental cleaning procedure. Brush your teeth and clean your tongue as much as possible. This will at least ensure that bad breath does not emit from a dirty mouth.|Ensure that you regularly visit a dentist for cleaning your mouth. This process will see to it that professional touch is applied to get rid of bacteria from your mouth so as to avoid bad breath.|If you are having bad breath, it will be suitable for you to know the likely cause first before you start treatment option. Many factors are known to cause this condition. However, the bottom line is that every factor tends to build bacteria inside the mouth or tongue.

When you see someone that is having chronic bad breath, certain foods that such a person eats will promote the smell that comes from him or her. Thus it is advisable for such a person to stay away from foods that are high in proteins and fats because they create the atmosphere of breeding bacteria.|Mouthwashes are remedies, which can be used by those with bad breath. However, if these mouthwashes are made from alcoholic chemicals, they could aggravate the bad breath problem instead of eliminating it. The reason for it is that alcohol consumption causes the mouth to dry and makes smell to ooze out from there.

Naturally, some people today tend to produce bacteria excessively. If this happens often in the mouth area, then chronic halitosis or bad breath will occur. Thus, make sure that you take medications that will help you get rid of bacteria. |There is no doubt that some drugs or medications can naturally cause bad breath. Thus, if you have certain diseases like diabetes or asthma, the medications you take causes your mouth to dry and makes bacteria to breed. So, ensure that you take enough water to douse the effect of the bad breath.|Although you may not liken bad breath as a disease but it is more or less a kind of social disease. Why is it so? The simple reason is that victims of bad breath do not fit in well into the society because the smells that ooze of them repel others. So, they often cannot communicate with confidence. It is therefore necessary to find ways of getting rid of this problem.

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