How to Build Wooden Shelves Attached to a Concrete Wall

Sand and paint your wood shelf tops. If you know the size of the shelves you want prior to buying the wood, the lumber yard can cut the shelf tops to size for you, and often for no fee.

Mark a level line on the concrete wall where you want to install a shelf, as long as the shelf top. If you want multiple shelves, then make one line per shelf in the position you want for all the shelves.

Measure in 5 inches from the end of each line for the position of the shelf bracket. If the shelves will be going in a row on the wall, then mark the bracket positions so you have them all in the same line.

Place a shelf bracket on the first line, on one of the bracket positions. Use a pencil to mark all the screw hole positions on the wall. Repeat on the other end of the line and for all the shelf lines.

Drill a pilot hole using a hammer drill at each of the screw hole positions you marked. The hole should be sized for the sleeve-anchored bolts you are using to attach the shelves to the concrete and as deep as the whole length of the bolt.

Place a shelf bracket over the pilot holes on one end of a shelf line, ensuring the screw holes in the bracket match up the with pilot holes. Insert the sleeve-anchored bolt into the screw hole, and push it in until the washer on the sleeve anchor is flush with the screw hole on the bracket. Use a hand wrench to tighten the nut on the bolt.

Repeat on all the screw holes, then with all the brackets. Set each wooden shelf on top of the pairs of brackets to finish the shelves.