I have a drop off at the top of the stairs in my kids playroom where I
would like to install a waist high shelving unit that would be bolted
to the floor and would replace the existing railing. The space is in an
attic area so the walls are vertical to about waist height and then
angle up to the ceiling. It would not only add storage to a cluttered
area but I think it would be safer than a railing. Any suggestions?
[email protected] wrote:
> I have a drop off at the top of the stairs in my kids playroom where I
> would like to install a waist high shelving unit that would be bolted
> to the floor and would replace the existing railing. The space is in an
> attic area so the walls are vertical to about waist height and then
> angle up to the ceiling. It would not only add storage to a cluttered
> area but I think it would be safer than a railing. Any suggestions?
If it's the same height, why would it be safer than a railing? Kids
can climb up on either one.
Railings are required to sustain a 50 pound per linear foot of railing
load, with an individual point load of 200 pounds anywhere along it's
length. Since the shelving will be replacing the railing it should be
designed with that load in mind.
As another post mentioned, tying it in to the ceiling by either running
the shelving all the way up, or by having a post of some sort at the
end, would make it a lot more stable. Bolting it to the floor would
probably work fine, but without more information on the intended depth
and construction, it's hard to say for sure.
R
I would worry about the kids climbing the bookcase and falling.
They can't climb a railing.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a drop off at the top of the stairs in my kids playroom where I
> would like to install a waist high shelving unit that would be bolted
> to the floor and would replace the existing railing. The space is in an
> attic area so the walls are vertical to about waist height and then
> angle up to the ceiling. It would not only add storage to a cluttered
> area but I think it would be safer than a railing. Any suggestions?
>
Bolting to the floor will not likely be sufficient to avoid wobble on
the free end - for either railing or bookcase. Gotta either go up to a
ceiling joist or down to a floor joist to make that free end stable,
especially with kids swinging on it.
On 7 Mar 2006 05:34:09 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>I have a drop off at the top of the stairs in my kids playroom where I
>would like to install a waist high shelving unit that would be bolted
>to the floor and would replace the existing railing. The space is in an
>attic area so the walls are vertical to about waist height and then
>angle up to the ceiling. It would not only add storage to a cluttered
>area but I think it would be safer than a railing. Any suggestions?