My neighbor in apartment 3B said my new shelves looked 'tense'

I was showing off the floating shelves I built with 3/4 inch plywood, and she pointed out how the brackets were pulled so tight against the wall they looked stressed. She said, 'Wood needs to breathe a little, you know?' I always cranked everything down thinking tighter was better, but now I'm wondering if I've been over-torquing my projects for years. Has anyone else had a simple comment make you rethink a basic building habit?

3 comments

3 Comments

sethanderson1mo ago

Your neighbor's onto something. I've seen plywood split from being fastened too tight, especially when the humidity changes. Letting things move a bit prevents a lot of headaches later.

jadeg811mo ago

@jadeg81 Oh man, @sethanderson is dead right about that. I made the same mistake on a deck rebuild a few years back - drove every screw in like I was holding the plywood hostage. Come spring, that first hot humid day hit and I had splits running across three sheets near the joists. Had to pull half the fasteners and redo them with gaps. Now I always leave a tiny breathing room around the edges and never crank them flush. The wood will do what it wants no matter how tight you go.

xenar141mo ago

Yeah my buddy learned that the hard way. He built a whole shed floor and nailed it down super tight. Next summer half the sheets had huge cracks right along the seams. Had to replace three sheets before he got it right.