How to Anchor a Shelf to a Stone Wall

Anchoring a shelf to a stone wall requires some special tools.

Stone walls can be an attractive focal point in your home, but they do present some difficulties when it comes to attaching objects, like a shelf or set of shelves, to them. Techniques that are perfectly well-suited to drywall or wood will be ineffective when used on a stone wall. You'll need special tools for cutting into stone and special anchors designed to hold fasteners in place in stone when you tackle this project.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Drill
• Carbide-tipped masonry bit
• Masonry wall anchors with screws
• Hammer
• Screwdriver

Instructions

1. Place your shelf against the wall at the desired location. Mark the locations of the holes in the shelf's mounting brackets onto the wall with a pencil. Remove the shelf from the wall and set it aside.

2. Drill holes into the stone wall at the marked locations with a carbide-tipped drill bit. Make the holes as deep as your masonry wall anchors.

3. Place the wall anchors into the holes and tap them in flush with a hammer. Move the shelf back into position, lining up the holes in the shelf brackets with the anchors in the walls. Insert the screws through the holes in the brackets and into the anchors. Tighten the screws with a screwdriver until the shelf is tightly fastened to the wall.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear eye protection when drilling into stone.

References

• Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual: Completely Revised and Updated; Editors of The Family Handyman