I have one of these. The way this is made is that the sides are not attached to the shelves other than to the middle (non-adjustable) shelf. They are also not attached to the back. The back is an extremely thin pressed wood sheet, which is nailed into the top, middle and bottom of the bookcase, but is not attached to the sides and just slides into a groove in the side panels.
So there’s about 3 feet of height on both top and bottom where the sides are not fastened to anything at all. And the problem I have is that the sides are bowing outwards on the upper half, such that the shelves no longer reach both sides. The clips which hold up the shelves are pretty small, so even a small amount of expansion makes the shelves prone to fall.
What’s to be done? I don’t see how anything can be nailed/screwed into the backing, thin as it is. And in any event, I’m loath to make any holes in the finished surfaces.
But I would have to think there are some clever gadgets used in furniture circles for this type of thing. Only thing is that I’m not in furniture circles.
I have what appears to be that exact same bookcase, but black. Four of them. For about 3-4 years now. I’ve had no problems at all. (Except that I didn’t know about the fixed middle shelf when I bought it; I bought an extra shelf in hopes of seven equally spaced shelves. That didn’t work out.)
Sorry to say that I have no suggestions. It is hard for me to imagine what you’re describing. I would understand if the shelves were sagging, but you’re talking about the sides. How did they get bowed out like that, a foot or two from the top, and a foot or two from the bottom? Maybe you putt oo many books on each shelf and they pushed outards, but those boards are pretty stiff, and I can imagine squeezing so many books in that they would push outwards that far.
The only thing I can think of has nothing to do with the back. Rather, maybe you can secure the other shelves to the sides that same way at the middle shelf is secured.
Do you have any idea what’s causing the bowing? Is there something heavy on top of the bookcase (I don’t think they’re designed for that) or did they come that way? It’s been a long time since I put one of those together and the only ones I have left are screwed to the wall so I can’t look at anything meaningful to help.
If you have the ability to make them you could possibly attach boards across the back and attach each end to the sides to help stiffen the structure. But you have to be careful, I think the sides are veneered chipboard and so aren’t very forgiving of mistakes.
Those shelves, like most IKEA furniture, are made from medium-density fiberboard (MDF) which is basically coarse sawdust glued into the form of a board. When required to bear any weight for an extended period of time it will eventually bow or buckle (which is what your shelves are doing) and there is really nothing that can be done about it short of adding stiffening ribs outside the shelve walls. These aren’t really made to last more than a few years while you save up for real furniture, so it sounds like time to scrap these and get something better, which is pretty much anything.
I have a few pieces of IKEA that are left over from my big cross country move when I needed cheap furniture fast, and they’re all ‘solid’ pine including a pretty hefty kitchen island that I’ve used for years as a workbench, but all the MDF shit went into the dumpster when it started buckling or delaminating.
88Being Swedish, I lied with Billy in one way or another for over 40 years. They’re cheap, extremely durable and swallow lots of books.
Why different? Well, I moved around a lot when younger, and found myself in an apartment where the taller shelves couldn’t fit, or I needed more and the color I had was not available anymore*.Anyway, I’ve put together quite a few of them over the years and:
You are supposed to nail the two masonite masonite sheets on the back to the bottom, middle, top and sides. If you were left without nails, it was because you used too many on the horizontal and none on the vertical. Get yourself to a hardware store, buy similar nails and attach the masonite boards to the sides. Problem solved.
*With time I learned to always buy white. They always have white and that way adding another section is not a problem, Also, the more slender shelves (about 15") look nicer and are more sturdy.
If you are up to it. You can purchase some brackets that can be placed on the back. They look like a + sign with one arm gone. Two screw holes in each arm. I would definitely pre drill the holes, so you do not puff out the MDF when putting in the screws. The back panel will not fit flush over these brackets after. But will not be too noticeable.
Unless you are really cramming books into the shelves, this should resist the bowing out quite well.
Now I’m confused. Since the movable shelves are only resting on little pegs and aren’t actually attached to the sides, how could over-loading them cause the sides to bow out, unless they are stuffed in so much that they are actually pushing the sides apart? That would just make one side of the shelf fall down. Also, OP said that the sides are only bowing out on the upper half, which takes me back to wondering if something heavy has been sitting on the top of the bookcase.
No, the back slides into the sides and only nails into the top middle and bottom shelves. There are instructions at the OP’s link. He could get something to nail across the back of the sides but this isn’t an assembly error, something’s wrong with the side panels. I’ve never had any issues with Ikea stuff personally.
Although it would probably be most effective when first assembling the bookcase. Now that it’s already bowed, the cheap fiberboard may be warped beyond saving. Reinforcing with brackets now might just give a pinched look at the bracket points to the bowing.
I think you will have to. If it’s bowed throughout the top section (by that I mean fully front to back) the solution is to turn one of your adjustable shelves into a fixed shelf, that will hold the sides together. You can do that from the inside, with small L brackets, but they will be visible.
You can do it from the outside with a small hole and a screw into the shelf itself, though this could fail eventually since the shelves are particle board, and can be tricky if you don’t get the screw perfectly centered.
I have 15 Ikea bookcases, and have at times had probably 10 more, some Billy, some other styles that are less sturdy. I’ve hauled them from place to place, disassembled and reassembled them, had them in storage, pulled the nails, etc. The problem the OP describes has never occurred. I suggest speaking with Ikea.
ETA that some are 35 years old. The first one I ever bought is now a garage pantry shelf since the white melamine surface became dingy and chipped over many moves, but it’s still structurally sound.
I don’t know how it happened, but it was over time.
The bookcase is kept in a (finished) basement, which makes you think of moisture, but there’s another identical one right next to it which is perfect.
I don’t know if people crammed too many books into it. I doubt it, though.
The thing is that the pegs which hold up the shelves only extend about 1/4 inch out. So even a small amount of bowing means that they won’t hold. (Only one of the top shelves doesn’t hold.)
I’m not sure what you’re describing. (I understand the bracket you’re referring to, but don’t know how you’re suggesting it be attached.) Couple of things. 1) the back of the bookcase is extremely thin material, and I don’t know that screwing anything into it will hold (besides that there will be screws protruding through it), and 2) in the back side of the bookcase, the back is not flush with the sides (as described earlier, the back slides into a groove in the sides, so a bit of the sides extends outwards).
What I wondering now is if I put some wood glue in the groove and (after reinstalling the back) clamp it together for a while, is there any possiblity that this holds?
If I can’t come up with anything else, I will do this.
It might. But since we don’t really know why the sides are bowing out on this bookcase the front might continue warping until the shelves lose contact with the pegs in front.
