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Hello, I am in the process of building floating shelves in my loft and wondering if screws or bolts would be better to secure to the studs. I say they are partially floating as the shelves are 9 feet long but attached to the wall at both ends. They will have 3 points of contact to the wall but a long distance in the middle will be floating. I’ve constructed the shelves in a torsion box fashion with 2×3′s with 1/2 plywood skin to reduce the weight and increase riggidity (i think that’s a word.) The shelves are 14”in depth and are going to hold books so I need the best and strongest fastner available.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Most of the walls are sheetrock but I haven’t explored behind this wall yet. The building was an old pencil factory built in 1840 but was converted to rentals in the 80′s so anything could be behind the sheetrock, maybe concrete. Any thoughts, tips, suggestions?

thanks,