Pressed Particle Board Shelving Warning

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>