Fixed vs Moveable shelving

I am designing a home library with fixed shelving, mostly because I hate dowels and moveable shelves. I hate the way the holes look, I hate how the dowels break, I hate when they get wobbly or unbalanced.

But I am worried that I am about to commit to a life of frustration at immobile shelves.

Thoughts either way?

I recently had shelving made and went with fixed shelves; but mine don’t cover the walls like you plan. Go with adjustable if at all possible. Consider this old fashioned system of adjusting shelves - it goes by various terms, zigzag, birdsmouth or sawtooth :

https://www.sawtoothshelfsystem.com/

You can actually buy just the precut supports if that makes it feasible:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/hardware/storage-and-organization/shelf-sup...

They look gorgeous, but the cost ($$ for the premade, or time to make the hundred linear metres needed) makes them infeasible.

But, if I could do a flexible shelving that looked that good, I might consider it.

You went with fixed, what drove that decision?

(I should have said, I am leaning toward fixed, just want to be sure I haven't overlooked a reason to have flexible).

My opinion: Unless all of your books are of a similar height, you're a fool if you use fixed shelves.

A better answer depends on a) the height of your books; b) how many of each, in 1" increments maybe, and c) how you choose the placement of your books. And, if it applies, the size of your books from spine to the open edge. Art books, for example, tend to hang off the edge of your standard 11" (front to back) bookshelf.

You didn't mention how much wall space you have in the room, nor the height of the ceiling. Other considerations are the location (and direction of swing) of doors, windows, switches and outlets; also the direction of sunlight through the windows during the course of a day, and over a year.
There are 19 bookcases in my house. Two are built-ins on either side of the fireplace -- adjustable shelves. Six are short ones, say three feet tall -- they're all fixed shelves. MrsHouseLibrary and I had seven custom freestanding bookcases made, plus a dictionary stand. Those bookcases have one permanent shelf each, three feet from the bottom for stability. The height placement of that permanent shelf is critical. All the rest of the shelves are adjustable. They're all seven feet tall, except the one for the art books (Dewey 700s); it's another six inches taller and 17" deep. Juxtaposed between two other bookcases, the shelves remind me of a cabinet for a pipe organ.

There are over 2,400 books in my house. With a few exceptions, I've got everything arranged according to Dewey. And they range from 4" tall to 19 1/2" tall. For the most part, I use the bottom shelf to store the taller books that won't fit in their proper place above. These are the exceptions. But generally, I have six or seven shelves per bookcase.

And, that's the short answer.

I measured my tallest book at the time, then made all of the shelves that height. There is a gap in some sections where there might be just small paperbacks, but honestly, this gives me room to lay new books on top until I get enough sideways stacks to justify shifting rows to make room for adding them in. I leave the bottom shelf on each case for oversized. My shelves are adjustable but unless I am already in shifting mode, it would be a pain to adjust. Also, I found separating children's books from adults meant I could use a smaller height for the adult cases.

>4 WholeHouseLibrary:

Thanks, here is a longer explanation.

I plan to organise using the Dewey Decimal system (currently cataloguing all the books on LibraryThing for that purpose), so all books will be in that order, (exceptionally large books which I will place on a lower shelf designed for that purpose).

The library/study will have about 4.5 metres of bookcases, each bookcase will sit on top of a cabinet (benchtop at 750mm height) and go all the way up to the ceiling (3250mm height), with a moveable ladder to reach the highest shelves. There will be roughly 3metres more over-desk bookcases.

I have been working on the plan all day, and I *think* I have settled on a 400mm bottom shelf, with 5 x 270mm shelves (internal measurements). The over-desk bookcases will be have 3 shelves @ 270mm. I am measuring books and I think that will allow for most books to be shelved normally.

There is also room for some additional bookcases built around a bed/loft area, but I am going to hold off building those until I get a more of a feel for the room.

>5 genesisdiem:
Yes. I suspect once the shelves are in re-adjusting will be a massive task, rather than quick adjustment.

(It is obvious here that I am heavily leaning toward fixed shelves).

One other reason is that once the shelves are in and fixed, then I don't get to second-guess. It is done. Moveable shelving will plague me with regular jobs where I have to readjust and redo all the shelves.

I assume you can get something similar where you are but what I have is this system:



It’s fairly easy to adjust individual shelves - depending on what’s on the shelves above and below it. I leave more of a gap above my books, so it’s possible to lift one side of a shelf, flip out the two supports, put them back into the new position and repeat on the other side (just make sure they’re on the same level!).

I'd go with fixed shelves. A design I have in mind would have the shelves fit into dado joints on the sides. Using 3/4 plywood or MDF, it should be very strong.
I have not had this design built, but here's what I'm looking at:
One 14" shelf on the bottom for extra-tall books, four 12" shelves, and two 11" shelves, built on a 2 X 4 base.
Height: 93 1/2 inches, so it will fit into eight-foot ceilings.
Width: 29 1/2 inches, so three will fit into a 7/12 space, or four into a ten-foot space, with a little clearance on each side.
Depth: 11 1/2 inches (11 inch shelf, 1/2 face molding).
The last time I checked, a 4 X 8 foot piece of 3/4 oak plywood was about $60.00. Four sheets would give you four sides and twenty-four shelves (only sixteen shelves needed, so you'll have some extra pieces).
1/4 plywood for the back, and a lot of glue, nails, and clamps.
A good woodworker should be able to build these. If you need a large number, check with a local cabinet shop; they will be able to set up for mass production. I don't know about unit prices, but $250–300 might be in the ballpark.

>3 alsocass: I see I neglected your second question about why I went with fixed. Most of my bookcases are older, fixed shelf models, so I’m used to dealing with that issue.

But this most recent custom build was for a living room wall, and I wanted the formality of a grid. It houses most of my large sized nonfiction books.

I lucked into a cabinetmaker with some spare time. He built the cases, and I installed them. This is the rough-in: