How Much Weight Can a Floating Shelf Hold?

One of the questions that we, at Sheppard Brackets, get on a regular basis is, “How much weight can a floating shelf hold?” Since we manufacture heavy-duty and high-quality floating shelf brackets, this is one that we are happy and proud to answer.

The answer is, a lot of weight—if it is done right. Like anywhere from 25lbs to well over 300lbs. That is a big range. So here's a quick down-low, the answer to this question is essentially based on a sliding scale of factors. Some factors increase the weight capacity of your floating shelf, some decrease it. For your particular shelf or shelves, check out the following points, then proceed accordingly:

Point #1: Know what your floating shelf needs to hold.

Start here. Know approximately how much weight you need the shelf to hold and what the dimensions of the shelf need to be to get everything onto it the way you envision it. Have the general picture of what you need, then you can seek the appropriate floating shelf brackets and eventually shelf to meet the needs of your project.

Point #2: Generally speaking, the deeper your floating shelf is, the less weight it can hold. This means that you will need a strong floating shelf bracket.

You can hit literally every stud behind your Sheppard Brackets Floating Shelf Bracket with at least 2 screws.

Science! Physics dictates that the deeper the shelf, the less weight it takes to move it. Picture yourself holding a gallon of milk. If you hold it close to your body, it isn’t too bad to keep it up near chest level. But, if you extend your arms and attempt to hold that gallon of milk at the end of your outstretched arms, it feels MUCH heavier. It’s the same concept with the shelf. The takeaways from this science lesson are first, to only install a floating shelf as deep as you need. If you go deeper then that, you will lose weight capacity. For example, if you are installing a floating shelf to be used as a bookshelf, typically your shelf won’t need to be deeper than 10" since most books are less than 9" deep. If you are installing floating shelves for your kitchen, 12" usually works since most cabinets and the plates, cups, and bowls they house, are 12" or less deep. The second takeaway is to always look for the strongest and highest-quality floating shelf brackets to support that floating shelf. Hint: Sheppard Brackets are those brackets.

Point #3 (and perhaps the most important point). More screws into studs means higher weight capacity for your floating shelves.

This is perhaps the most overlooked factor. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and so is a floating shelf. If you only screw your floating shelf bracket into two studs then the entire shelf system is literally supported by only those two screws. And even worse, if only one stud has a screw in it and the other screw is just anchored into the drywall, you are looking at a shelf failure at some point. With Sheppard Brackets Floating Shelf Hardware, it is apparent that one can put at least 2 screws into each stud that falls behind the bracket. This is due to our revolutionary Studlock Multimount system that we engineered and manufacture. There is no need with Sheppard Brackets to drill additional holes in your bracket. No need to adjust the location of the shelf so that the holes line up with the studs. No need to worry about any of that. A Sheppard Bracket Floating Shelf Bracket will hit every single stud behind it.

Table 1: Dimensions and number and spacing of rods in a Sheppard Bracket Floating Shelf Bracket

Point #4: The more rods securely welded into your floating shelf bracket means a higher weight capacity.

Make sure that the floating shelf bracket you choose is top of the line. At Sheppard Brackets, we design and manufacture revolutionary floating shelf brackets that allow you to install your floating shelf virtually anywhere on your wall. We have competitors and copycats though, so regardless of where you get your brackets be hyper aware of this point: Pick a bracket that has enough horizontal rods welded onto it to adequately support your shelf. This is where knowing how much weight capacity you need comes in. Each rod will carry a certain amount of weight on its own, and together those capacities add up to the bracket's total capacity. See Table 1 for the number of rods for each length of floating shelf bracket.

So what?!?! Now what? Well, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out what you will be putting on your stylish and modern and strong floating shelves. Then you will go to SheppardBrackets.com and find the appropriate bracket and drilling and routing guides and then order them. Once you order them, check out our tutorial on how to prepare and install a Sheppard Brackets floating shelf bracket and a floating shelf. Then get to work and create that beautiful space in your home for your floating shelves.

Building floating shelf with Sheppard brackets floating shelf bracket, router template and drilling plates. Floating shelf preparation and installing tutorial.