>It turns out that the boards are
>sagging a bit towards the center, so it's just a matter of time before
>things begin to go crash. Not sure how soon that might happen, but
>this sagging has occurred fairly quickly, or so it seems.
The moisture helped, but particle board does just sag over time.
But it may be a while before it crashes, and it probably will slip free
of the end supports before it actually breaks.
I had a particle board shelf over a kitchen sink in my old house. The
steam from washing dishes caused the board to sag under the weight of the
cookbooks something fierce. I had almost a full 1 foot displacement from
the low point of the center to the height of the shelf supports on the
sides. The shelf was only 5 feet long, so you can imagine how much of a
bow that was. My shelf was screwed into the side supports so it couldn't
slip out.
Mine bowed within the first year of it being there (when I moved in there
was one there that was just as bad, and I replaced it). It stayed bowed
for 2 years until I got annoyed at everything falling over from the
angle. I then screwed a hook into the shelf, and into the ceiling, and
over the course of a few days, pulled the board straight using a chain (I
couldn't add another support in the middle because it was in front of a
window). With the help of the chain, the board remained almost perfectly
straight for the last 2 years I lived there (I was never able to get it
exactly straight again and I didn't feel like replacing the shelf again
in a place I was renting).
So my guess is, you will get a large bow in that board without it
breaking. The only fear I would have is the board bowing so much it slips
off the end supports and the entire shelf drops. If you can find a way to
resupport the middle you can probably stop the bow entirely and it will
continue to give you years of happy service.
-chris
<
http://www.mythtech.net>
Received on Thu May 27 2004 - 08:47:39 BST