Generally, thicker glass is better able to hold heavier weights without shattering. The shorter the span, the more weight the shelf can carry, or the thinner glass can be to bear the same weight. For example, 3 feet times 2/3 of a foot (8 inches) is 2 square feet.
( Log Out / (70 lbs for Wire Shelf) 17 lbs.
( Log Out / Measure the width you need the glass to be by measuring the distance between the supports on either side. Your 42" is an awful long area to trust to just glass. Their chart demonstrated how the weight bearing capacity decreases as the span widens. Fresh Food Door. Once you’ve properly anchored or otherwise supported your brackets and installed the shelving, avoid loading the glass shelves with their maximum load. I'm looking to buy a glass shelf that 35"W x 18" D and and probably 1/4" thick. If you have a bookcase or something similar, the width of the opening of the case is what you want. 18 cu. Your example, being 42" wide, means that you're probably at the (pardon the pun) break-even point. ( Log Out /
(i.e., a 12-inch wide shelf at 1/2" thick can bear 345 pounds, the same shelf at 2' wide can bear 81 pounds and a 3' span can only bear 33 pounds).
Base your expectations of strength on your shelf’s glass type. 19 cu. The amount of weight your shelf can safely hold depends on the type of glass.
Include the weight of the shelves along with the weight of the load they’ll carry when you purchase your installation hardware. ( Log Out / Even though thicker, heat-treated glass can better support heavy weights, breakage is still a risk if you improperly support the shelves’ bracketing. Tempered glass can hold significantly more weight, but usually glass shelves this thin are completely safe only for lightweight bric-a-brac and other small decorative items. From contributor A: Measure the depth of the glass you … For example, you may want to place several decorative objects on the shelf, totaling 10 lbs.
His articles have appeared on many sites, including GameDev.net, KenSharpe.net, and eHow. If you're thinking of adding glass shelves to your family room's built-in bookcases or your dining room's china hutch, you'll need to know how thick the glass must be to bear the weight you plan to put on it, to prevent breaking. Look to the left margin to see that your glass shelf needs to be 1/4 inch thick. That would depend on how wide the case is and what will be put on it. For example, if your shelf is 3 feet wide and needs to carry 5 pounds per square foot, start at the column with "3" at the top, and trace down until you hit the second row, which reads "5". Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Question The shorter the span, the more weight the shelf can carry, or the thinner glass can be to bear the same weight. For example, a 1-inch-thick length of tempered glass holds almost 200 pounds if its supports are 5 feet apart; the same glass shelf can hold more than 5,000 pounds if supports are 1 foot apart. While thicker pieces of glass can safely support large amounts of weight, thick glass with short distances between support brackets can support even more. How much weight can a Glass Shelf hold? Katherine Harder eHow Contributor, Original article found on: http://www.ehow.com/info_12041295_much-weight-can-put-glass-shelf.html. Freezer Door. The stress on the glass over extended periods will increase the risk of breakage. It may be a span of 3 feet, for example. 28 lbs. What thickness of glass would you recommend and is support at only the two ends sufficient? How to Determine the Linear Feet for Buying Lumber, How to Select a Waterfall Pump for Your Pond. (Cabinetmaking Forum) Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Annealed glass shelves ¼-inch thick won’t hold anything heavier than about 70 pounds, even with a lot of strong supports. ft. 60 lbs. I need to put glass shelves in a frameless 42" upper dish cabinet but I am nervous about their weight-bearing capacity. May 22, 2006, KnowledgeBase: Cabinetmaking: Custom Cabinet Construction. Top-Mount refrigerator doors have been tested to handle the following weights: Cubic Feet. Divide the weight from the previous step, by the total square footage you calculated in Step 3. Typically, manufacturers use only toughened glass for shelves, casings and other architectural purposes, since decorative glass, such as cathedral or obscure glass, aren’t strong enough to support much weight. Forum Responses Change ), http://www.ehow.com/info_12041295_much-weight-can-put-glass-shelf.html. Author: … First, at the top of the chart find the distance in feet—1 through 5—between supports that corresponds to your shelf's span. Find the square footage of your shelf by multiplying the width times the depth, in feet. He has been writing about technology and the business of technology since 1999. Dust Collection, Safety and Plant Operation, Job Opportunities and Woodworking Services, ... is not much. Measure the depth of the glass you need. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. In my example, 1/4-inch thick glass could handle the load, but if you added anything to the shelf later, it would break.
The amount of weight your shelf can safely hold depends on the type of glass. Weigh on a scale the contents you plan to put on the shelf. Click on the "Permissible Loads for Glass Shelves" in the references section, and refer to the chart in the document. Top Freezer Refrigerator - Shelf and Door Bin Weight Limits.
A similarly long 3/8" piece of glass can bear 18 pounds and a 1/2" piece can bear 33 pounds. Klages attended Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Fla. How Big a Table Base Do You Need for a 54-Inch Glass Tabletop? A 3/8" piece of glass that long will look nice and light but will likely only be able to bear a maximum of 3-5 pounds of weight. (i.e., a 12-inch wide shelf at 1/2" thick can bear 345 pounds, the same shelf at 2' wide can bear 81 pounds and a 3' span can only bear 33 pounds). Before you install your shelves, weigh them. You should plan for the worst possible scenario with the weight. I plan to use shelf brackets on all … I'd figure out how to get a center support in there somewhere, or build a wood or metal picture framework and use that to buttress the glass. Fortunately, glass strength is well established, so finding out how thick your shelving needs to be is as simple as taking a few measurements and looking up the capacity in a chart. Glass shelves allow you to view your display items from all angles, but overloading them can result in damage to both the shelves and the items. This will be constrained by the depth of your bookshelf, but a typical one for a shelf is 8 inches.
For example, 10 pounds divided by 2 square feet is 5 pounds per square foot. Glass shelving’s maximum weight load depends several factors, including the type of glass, its thickness and the distance between the shelves’ supporting brackets. Two to three times stronger than annealed glass, heat-treated glass undergoes a rapid cooling process that partially tempers the material. When in doubt, get thicker glass. ft. 66 lbs. Most commercial glass shelves are between 3/8-inch to 5/8-inch thick, which allows for moderately heavy items, such as a couple of books, while keeping support distance reasonable. L.P. Klages is an entrepreneur and software developer, concentrating on information theory, software user experience, and mathematical modeling. Typically, manufacturers use only toughened glass for shelves, casings and other architectural purposes, since decorative glass, such as cathedral or obscure glass, aren’t strong enough to support much weight.
If your span between supports falls between these—18 inches, for example—then round up to the next higher number of feet—or 2 feet. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. A standard shelf measurement of 3-foot by-1-inch-by-12-inch should bear the following weights: 313 pounds for oak shelving, 200 pounds for pine, 129 pounds for … These measurements are for annealed glass only supported at the two far ends. 21 cu. Consider getting glass thicker than you need, just in case. Tempered glass, like heat-treated glass, is rapidly cooled after heating; it’s four times stronger than annealed glass. Float glass, also called annealed glass, is a more durable glass type; it undergoes a heating and slow cooling process to strengthen the surface by removing interior tensions. Their chart demonstrated how the weight bearing capacity decreases as the span widens. Here are a few details. Then, trace down that column until you reach a number that's greater than or equal to the pounds per square feet of load you calculated in Step 5.