How to Install Closetmaid Wire Shelving

In order to set the wire shelving up, all you need is a small drill and a few simple tools.

1. Place the level against your wall at the height that you will want to install the ClosetMaid shelf. Rotate the level until the air bubble in the level is completely in between the lines, and then use the level as a guide to draw a very thin pencil mark on the wall.

2. Install the wall clips, which will support the back of the shelving system along the line that you drew. Drill two holes with the 1/4-inch bit, each 2 inches from where you want the shelf to end. You can hold the shelf itself against the wall if you need to mark where the shelf begins and ends. Once you drill the two holes, drill more holes along the line where you will install the shelf. These holes should be about 12 inches apart.

3. Push your wall clips into the holes the you drilled. The sleeve sticking out of the back of the clip will fit into the drilled hole. Then insert the push pins that came with the ClosetMaid shelf into the holes on the front of the clips. Push the pins all the way in, which may require a screwdriver or nail set, and it will lock into place. For any hole that ended up over a stud, use the utility knife to remove the sleeve sticking out from the back of the wall clip, then align the wall clip hole over the drilled hole and use a 1-inch screw to secure it.

4. Install wall brackets on the side wall wherever the shelf ends against a wall. Place your shelf into the clips on the back of the wall and slide the front of the shelf into a wall bracket. Place your level on top of the shelf and adjust the height until the shelf is level. Mark with a pencil where the two wall bracket holes are located. Remove the shelf and create two 1/4-inch holes on those marks. Install the wall bracket using the same method as the wall clips, then put the shelf back in place.

5. Attach support brackets wherever the shelf ends and there is not a wall, as well as every three feet along long stretches of shelf. Latch the toothed end of the support over the top rod on the front of the shelf. Place the other end of the support against the back wall, below the shelving. Adjust the height of the support until the shelf is level, then make a mark through the hole in the bottom of the bracket. Drill a 1/4-inch hole on that mark. Push a wall anchor, which came with the ClosetMaid kit, through the hole on the support and into the hole in the wall. Then insert a push pin to lock it in place.

6. Attach a corner bracket wherever the shelving butts against a perpendicular piece of shelving. Lift up the end of the shelf and slide the flat end of a corner bracket through the second opening from the end at the front of the shelf. Angle the bracket so that the flat end winds up over the front of the perpendicular shelf and then push the back of the bracket down so that the bend in the bracket sits over one of the wires on the first shelf. Even with this bracket in place, you will still need a support near the end of this shelf.