Had a garage shelf collapse last Tuesday and it changed my mind about those plastic brackets

I was loading boxes onto a shelf I installed with the cheap plastic brackets from the hardware store, maybe $3 each, and the whole thing just dropped after holding up fine for 8 months. Swapped them out for simple metal L-brackets from the same store for $2 more each and they feel rock solid now. Anyone else had those plastic ones fail on them out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.jesse21d ago

Wow, I wonder if the plastic ones are actually designed to fail after a certain point so you have to keep buying them. My uncle had a similar shelf collapse and when he took the brackets back to the store, the clerk said "oh yeah those are for light duty only, like hats or picture frames." He didn't say anything about boxes of books.

nina_johnson8621d ago

The clerk at my local hardware store told me the same thing actually, that those plastic ones are rated for 15 pounds max. But here's the thing that gets me - the packaging doesn't say that anywhere obvious (it's in tiny print on the back). I noticed it on mine after I'd already installed them. They're fine for like a single coat hanging but definitely not for any real weight. The metal L-brackets are the way to go for anything you don't want hitting the floor at 2am.