Hackers Help: How to prevent shelf sag in large Pax wardrobes?

davidwbowman·
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pax wardrobe 0288328 PH006811 S4
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IKEA pax wardrobe prevent shelf sag
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I’m looking for suggestions for preventing shelf sag in Pax wardrobes.  Some, even not heavily loaded, shelves are sagging and causing the side panels of the wardrobe cabinet to spread pulling out the small plastic pins that hold the shelves in place and eventually allowing the shelf to drop.  What remedies have you used to prevent this from happening?

~ David

davidwbowman
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31 Responses

  2. The hafele supports…the links are dead already and I see several different products that may match:
    * 282.24.703
    * 282.26.700
    * 282.26.701
    * 282.26.705
    * 282.26.706
    * 282.26.715
    * 282.26.721
    * 282.26.725

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  7. Search for these metal pins:
    Hafele Shelf Drill 0 3/16in Shelf Floor Beam with Socket-Adaptor Shelf Support
    Hafele Shelf Support, Nickel with Thread, for 5 mm Hole, for Wooden Shelf

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  8. Sometimes it is the shelves that sag, sometimes the sides of the cabinet that bow out allowing even a flat shelf to fall off the pegs.
    Any ideas for straightening the sides of the cabinet?

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  10. For the Pax shelves these metal pins fit perfectly:

    “12 SHELF SUPPORT PLUG IN WITH SHELF-FIXING LUG FOR 5MM HOLE THE LOAD BEARRING CAPACITY FOR THESE WHICH IS 4 SUPPORT STUDS PER SHELF IS 150kg THIS IS FOR EVENLY STACKED SHELVES ZINC ALLOY TESTING TO DIN EN 1727”

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  11. I buy real wood and make good shelves. PAX is a decent base to work from, but don’t buy the cheap accessories.

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  12. The stiffness of a shelf is proportional to the cube of its thickness (two loosely stacked shelves are twice (2x) as stiff as a single shelf, two shelves bonded together are eight times (8x) as stiff), so if you stack two shelves together or apply wooden stiffeners to the underside of the shelves you want to bond them together in such a way that they behave like a single thickness of material.

    You can do this using a structural adhesive (apply a structural epoxy to the roughened surfaces of the shelves and then clamp or screw them together making sure they are touching in the center and along each edge), or you can screw them together using wood screws installed in 3 or 4 rows of at least 6 – 8 screws distributed uniformly over the width of each shelf. These rows should run from left to right over the width of the shelf, not from front to back. If you use screws, you should double up on the screws (place the screws much closer together) at the ends of the shelf.

    Another way to stiffen a wooden shelf is to screw one or two steel adjustable shelf bracket stantions (the vertical piece with the slots in it) to the under side of the shelf. The bracket should extend over the full width of the shelf, and you should drill new screw holes and use at least two extra screws at the ends of the brackets so the screws at the ends won’t pull out of the shelf. You can paint the brackets to make them less noticeable.

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  13. For our sagging Ikea shelves, we went to the big box store and got those metal rods with the holes in them for adjustable shelves. The width was the same as the Ikea kitchen cabinet shelves. We cut them to fit with a hacksaw (not hard) and then I used a rubber mallet to hammer them on to the rear of the shelve so they wouldn’t be noticeable. This a) straightened the shelf and b) kept if from sagging again. Voila. We no longer had a sagging shelf problem and the closing of the doors to the cabinets wasn’t affected.

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  14. Pressed wood will sag over time, so you must decide to keep turning the shelves over, live with the problem, or lose some storage space. Her are a couple repair options:
    1. cut a 1/2″ plywood to fit the bottom of the shelf, apply glue and then screw it in place using several screws to take out the bow. This should distribute the weight better and over a long period of time, the end pins or screws may start to pull away.
    2. Use angle iron to brace the front and back of the shelf and place some cross members between the front and back supports. A lot of work and may add an industrial look to your shelves. REMEMBER round the corners and file all cut edges.
    3. Put a 1×3/4″ strip along the back and screw it o the back for support. Then put upright blocks of wood mid-span toward the front of the shelf.
    These methods will require some work and to make them look good, you might need to match the color of the repair to the original shelf.
    Both of the above solutions will take up some of your

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  15. I was wondering about using 2 shelves together with the aforementioned top and bottom fixings but was first going to clamp the 2 shelves together drill a hole somewhere around each corner (all the way through both) and use some of the fixings they supply to fix the wardrobes together (the 2 way bolts) that should in theory prevent any movement from the wood.I’ll post again when I’ve seen if it works.

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  16. I use a Pax wardrobe to store my hobby equipment which can be heavy. What I do to solve the sagging problem is I use a double layer shelf. The bottom shelf sits on the pegs as normal. Then I place a second shelf upside down on that first one with the peg holes facing upwards. The double shelf is stronger and will resist sagging longer than a single shelf. However, over time, they will still sag. When I see signs of bowing, I flip both shelves overs so that top one is now at the bottom with the holes sitting on the pegs. This way, my shelves never sag very much at all.

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  17. This should not be happening IKEA !! Do something about it,please
    Who wants to have to puzzle about their wardrobe to keep shelves from sagging ??? Designing inexpensive is fine, designing cheap is not !

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  18. I have Pax wardrobes in several rooms of my house, including one in the kitchen as a pantry. I have found when the shelves sag it is related to how the piece was constructed initially. Not how IKEA designed it, but how I constructed it. Now I glue every joint and be sure to nail and glue the thin piece of veneer they include for the back, not just the perimeter, but every joint where the veneer crosses the middle crosspiece. A brace across the bottom back of the shelf helps, but not as much as glue and using every nail they give you in the package. They dont give you mor than you should use. If you have extra, you need to see why.I have even taken one apart that wasnt glued and glued it. That helped me, I hope it helps you.

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  22. First, from experience, if it’s already sagging, the shelf might already be deformed, and there isn’t a lot to do to straighten it, so you might want a new shelf.
    I’d look for a set of metal rails I could screw to the bottom, something to lock the shelf straight.

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  23. To stop the shelves from sagging, grab a narrow length (1″ x 1.5″ x width of wardrobe) of wood and fix it to the underside of the shelf against the back panel – paint it the same colour. It adds stability and support without showing too much. I’ve got this in my wardrobes and built-in closets under the top shelves. It doesn’t get in the way of the pegs so you can still customise the shelf height.

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  24. I have had a similar problems with Pax wardrobes, and even with not-too-heavy stuff placed on top, the back will bulge out. To take off some of the pressure, I put a narrow supporting pole (dowel) inside, in the middle of the wardrobe, but against the back panel. It’s unattached and freestanding, and kept in place by the pressure from the top. I have the open metal shelves and the pole is small enough that it fits between the back of the shelf and the back panel. It doesn’t solve the problem completely, but it alleviates most of my fear that the wardrobe will suddenly burst apart in the middle of the night.

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  25. My first thought would be to use some sort of aluminum angle, like this from Home Depot and bolt it to the bottom of the shelf. It will make each shelf just a little bit heavier, but should help with support.

    Reply

  26. here is what we did with Billy bookshelves and the same issue: for the shelves add a stiffener strip of wood either at the front of the shelf or across the middle of the bottom. It required cutting the shelf depth depending on whether the strip was installed on the edge of the front vs underneath the shelf. For the carcass of the unit, we added strapping across the back in several places and made sure that the sides would not pull apart by screwing the strapping into the side panel edges. This way you have put two solutions together and it should keep the shelves stiffer and not likely to sag and the sides of the unit are pulled together across the back.

    Reply

  27. here is what we did with Billy bookshelves and the same issue: for the shelves add a stiffener strip of wood either at the front of the shelf or across the middle of the bottom. It required cutting the shelf depth depending on whether the strip was installed on the edge of the front vs underneath the shelf. For the carcass of the unit, we added strapping across the back in several places and made sure that the sides would not pull apart by screwing the strapping into the side panel edges. This way you have put two solutions together and it should keep the shelves stiffer and nit likely to sag and the sides of the unit are pulled together across the back.

    Reply

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