DIY Industrial Pipe Shelving On a Reasonable Budget
Learn how to build this impressive industrial pipe shelving the easy way! We’ve sourced the cheapest supplies for a pipe bookshelf if you’re on a budget. These DIY pipe shelves are perfect for farmhouse, rustic, or industrial modern decor.
Skills Required: Advanced Beginner. You’ll need to be able to stain wood and screw pipe together, as well as operate a drill. Cutting wood can be done for you at Home Depot, or you can use your own table saw.
You’ll construct this industrial pipe shelving from bottom to top, assembling the pipe and adding shelves as you go. It’s only attached at the very top of the unit using screws.
I’m not usually impressed by bookshelves, but when I went into my neighbor’s house and saw his DIY industrial pipe shelving in his living room, I couldn’t believe it.
First I figured that his pipe bookshelf must have taken weeks to put together, and secondly I was assuming this piece of home decor cost a fortune, but I was incorrect on both counts.
Pipe Bookshelf
The entire pipe bookshelf structure took about 12 – 13 hours for him to make, which is impressive given that it basically covers one entire wall.
It also cost under $$$$, which is also impressive given how many parts are involved and that these DIY pipe shelves basically cover one entire wall!
After instruction on how it all came together, I’m going to teach you how to make this industrial pipe shelving yourself, and how to adapt it to your home and needs. It’s a good woodworking project for beginners.
One of the issues that people experience with DIY pipe shelves is COST. It can be expensive so I’m going to share with you the most inexpensive places to buy parts.
There are essentially three separate structures that make up this industrial pipe shelving:
- a left shelving unit (with five shelves) that is 70″ long
- a middle, single shelf that is 53 5/8″ long
- a right shelving unit (with five shelves) that is 36″ long
All of these DIY pipe shelves are (approximately) 11″ deep. AND the only place the left and right shelving units are attached to the wall is at the very top, using the flanges! This is so he didn’t have to drill any holes in his floor. We’ll cover that more in depth in a moment.
Where to Begin
Before you start making your industrial pipe shelving, you should consider doing a drawing of your space and where you want the pipe shelves to go. If you’re just doing one shelf, this won’t necessarily be required.
But if you’re making a large industrial pipe shelving display like this one you should take a picture of your wall and print it out. That way you know where the windows are (if any) and how the industrial pipe shelving is going to fit in the space.
Another reason you’re going to do this drawing is so you know how much pipe and wood you’re going to need. You’ll want to add the shelves into your drawing. This video shows you how to make a scale drawing (he uses a regular ruler at about 7 minutes in).
You don’t need to go crazy with it; however, a basic drawing is going to tell you if your industrial pipe shelving will fit your items, and also if the shelves fit it in the space both height and width-wise. I did mine in PowerPoint since it’s easy to make boxes in the program.
Once you’re done designing, you need to buy your industrial pipe shelf supplies. This includes both the pipe and the wood. Special note about pipe sizing: the labeled pipe size and actually pipe size are not the same thing!
Refer to this chart. As long as you get flanges, elbows, and nipples with the same labeled size, you should be okay!
Basic Supply List for All DIY Pipe Shelves
- Drill with 1 1/2″ spade bit
- Table saw
- Screws – 20 plaster or drywall, unless you are going into studs (then get wood screws)
- Painter’s tape
- Minwax wood finish – this project uses Ebony 2718 and Gray 271
- Rag for applying stain
Left Shelving Unit, 70″ long
- Pine boards, 2 x 12, 6 feet long – 5
- 3/4″ black floor flange – 6
- 3/4″ black elbow – 18
- 3/4″ black tee – 15
- 3/4″ 4″ black nipple – 3
- 3/4″ 6″ black nipple – 18
- 3/4″ 12″ black nipple – 6
- 3/4″ 18″ black nipple – 9
Middle Shelf, 53 5/8″ long
- Pine board, 2″ x 12″ x 6′, cut to fit the space
- 3/4″ black floor flange – 4
- 3/4″ black elbow – 2
- 3/4″ 6″ black nipple – 4
Right Shelving Unit, 36″ long
- Pine boards, 2 x 12, 3 feet long – 5
- 3/4″ black floor flange – 4
- 3/4″ black elbow – 12
- 3/4″ black tee – 10
- 3/4″ 4″ black nipple – 2
- 3/4″ 6″ black nipple – 12
- 3/4″ 12″ black nipple – 4
- 3/4″ 18″ black nipple – 6
Where to Buy Inexpensive Pipe
You’re going to want to go online or to a local wholesale plumbing supply store. The prices we found online were considerably cheaper than what is available at the big box retailers.
My neighbor purchased his metal pipes from Supply House, with prices 50 – 75% less than at the big box home improvement stores OR other places online. I did my own research, and Supply House has the cheapest pipe parts I’ve seen as well!
I will say that purchasing your pipe online makes sense if you need a lot of it. If you’re just doing one simple shelf, purchasing from the Home Depot is fine.
The cost savings from ordering online for a smaller shelf aren’t necessarily worth paying shipping and handling, etc. And you can get everything you need in one trip. I’ll let you decide that based on the size of shelf you are making!
Where to Buy Wood and What to Use
You can get inexpensive pine from Home Depot. Pine will work well especially if you want your DIY pipe shelves to look like traditional industrial shelving – and be weathered and warped slightly when you apply the stain.
If you don’t want that look, go for pre-treated or a hard wood like poplar. However, your cost is going to go up over what pine will cost.
Cost of Project
- Left shelving – $129 piping
- Middle shelf – $21 piping
- Right shelving – $90 piping
- Wood – $100
- Stain & rags – $12
- Total cost = $352
This cost is pretty impressive based on the size of the project! Remember – this covers an entire wall!
How to Build a Bookshelf
Let’s get into the step by step. Doing a drawing of your space should give you an idea of how many shelves you want, and how long they should be.
Step One: Cut the shelves to size using a table saw. My neighbor cut:
- Left shelving – five shelves at a 70″ length
- Middle – one shelf at a 53 5/8″ length
- Right shelving – five shelves at a 36″ length
Step Two: Using your 1 1/2″ spade bit, you’re going to drill three holes through each 70″ board and two holes through each 36″ board. Refer to the diagram below for hole placement. Your holes need to be in the same place on every 70″ board and the same place on every 36″ board since you are stacking them. 😀
There are no holes in the back of the shelves – the shelves are supported by elbows in the back.
Step Three: Stain your boards. My neighbor used Ebony stain, let that dry, and them used random Gray stain in various areas for a rustic look.
Step Four: Begin building your industrial pipe shelving. Each shelf has a long piece of pipe, tee, a second piece of pipe, and an elbow as shown above. Screwing those all together will save you time! On this shelf, an 18″ pipe went into each flange at the bottom, and then at the top a tee.
Step Five: Stack the shelves, sitting each board onto tees and then screwing pipes in above. Work your way to the top, attaching flanges and screwing those into the wall to finish.
Attaching to the Wall
You’re going to probably want someone to help hold your pipe bookshelf straight as you stack the pipes and boards. Everything can get heavy quickly and you don’t want it to dump over on you.
You’ll need a ladder to secure it to the wall. Have your friend (or two) hold it in places as you anchor it with the screws into the flanges at the top. Each flange needs four screws.
Will My Pipe Bookshelf Be Stable & Secure?
If you live in an area with earthquakes, you’re definitely going to want to secure your industrial pipe shelving to the floor as well as to the wall.
If you want extra secure-ness, you can put a set of flanges on the back (halfway up?) instead of the elbows, and screw those into the wall.
You might want to consider extra flanges if you have small children as well. My neighbor has a 9-year-old daughter and it’s never been an issue!
As long as no one is hanging on the shelves, they are fine secured at the top and not screwed into the floor.
Could I Make This a Freestanding Pipe Bookshelf?
Absolutely! You can’t make your pipe bookshelf this high – maybe two or three wood shelves maximum (with less distance between them).
You’ll want to duplicate the holes you drill with the spade bit on both sides of the shelf. Then you’ll need to purchase the same pipe and flanges from the front side, as well as a pipe piece that will go across the top and attach elbows.
What do you think of this pipe bookshelf? Would you try some industrial shelving of your own? Let me know in the comments!
DIY Industrial Pipe Shelving
Equipment
- Drill with drill bits including a 1 1/2″ Spade Bit
Materials
- Pine boards see the Notes section
- Black pipe see the Notes section
- 20 Screws – plaster or drywall unless you are going into studs (then get wood screws)
- Painter’s tape
- Minwax wood finish we used Ebony 2718 and Gray 271
- Rag(s)
Video
Instructions
- Cut the shelves to size using a table saw. See the notes for cut lengths.
- Using your 1 1/2" spade bit, you’re going to drill three holes through each 70" board and two holes through each 36" board. Your holes need to be in the same place on every 70" board and the same place on every 36" board since you are stacking them.
- Stain your boards. We used Ebony stain, let that dry, and them used random Gray stain in various areas for a rustic look.
- Begin building your industrial pipe shelving. Each shelf has a long piece of pipe, tee, a second piece of pipe, and an elbow as shown above. Screwing those all together will save you time! On this shelf, an 18" pipe went into each flange at the bottom, and then at the top a tee.
- Stack the shelves, sitting each board onto tees and then screwing pipes in above. Work your way to the top, attaching flanges and screwing those into the wall to finish.
Notes
- Pine boards, 2 x 12, 6 feet long – 5
- 3/4" black floor flange – 6
- 3/4" black elbow – 18
- 3/4" black tee – 15
- 3/4" 4" black nipple – 3
- 3/4" 6" black nipple – 18
- 3/4" 12" black nipple – 6
- 3/4" 18" black nipple – 9
- Pine board, 2" x 12" x 6', cut to fit the space
- 3/4" black floor flange – 4
- 3/4" black elbow – 2
- 3/4" 6" black nipple – 4
- Pine boards, 2 x 12, 3 feet long – 5
- 3/4" black floor flange – 4
- 3/4" black elbow – 12
- 3/4" black tee – 10
- 3/4" 4" black nipple – 2
- 3/4" 6" black nipple – 12
- 3/4" 12" black nipple – 4
- 3/4" 18" black nipple – 6
Now that you know how to build a bookshelf, you might be interested in trying the following projects:
I am in the midst of this project and found that the 6” nipple fits well across the width of the shelves when it is connected between the Tee and the Elbow in the shelf “supports”; however at the top of the structure, where it is connected between the Tee and the Flange, the same length of pipe will not work as the “depth” of the flange is not as great as the elbow. In other words, the flange is a relatively flat fitting while the elbow is not, so the distance from that fitting to the tee at the front edge is different. I’m going to need to order some additional nipples for the top that are slightly longer, probably 7-8”.
Also, the pipe from Supply House arrives heavily greased to protect it from rust. Unfortunately, that won’t do when you’re using it for a home furnishing. So one should plan on a day or so of degreasing (acetone worked best for me) and then rust-proofing (I used paste wax but a spray on Rust-Oleum product would work well too).
Curious what length nipple you ended up using for the top connection to the flange. I will also be using this length to connect a flange somewhere in the middle of the wall to add some additional support (little kids).
Appreciate your help on this.
Thanks,
I used 7” nipples at the top and that worked. I measured the ideal size would be something custom cut like 7 1/4” but I just used the 7 and didn’t thread it all the way at either end and it worked fine.
@Ryan Kowalski, this is a great source to show the cleaning process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bReWtdBtkA
This is an amazing design! Thanks for sharing, especially all the details. It really balances costs, effort and beauty. Everyone loves it and it is tempting to continue building in this style around the room.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvZcPgpnon-/
BTW – I purchased my pipe parts here https://rustydesignusa.com/collections/pipe-kits
One question: the middle supports do not come into contact with the shelves. It doesn’t seem to matter much in terms of support. My shelves were not perfectly straight, and the shelf would only rest on two of the supports at a time. Any other suggestions?
@Jonah, If I’m understanding you correctly it sounds like your shelve may be bowed a bit from the front of your shelve to the back. Take a look at your shelve from one end and is it curved up a bit? If it is and it’s enough that it bothers you, you may have to cut a new shelf piece or if you have access to a planer you can plane it flat. Please write me back if I have failed to identify the problem correctly. Thank you for commenting!
I want to build this to hold scrapbooking supplies. The supplies can get very heavy. With support only at the top will this hold much weight?
Hi there – I looked up a shelf that was similar (pre-made) and it attaches the same way. The weight limit was 15 lb per shelf, which seems reasonable to me! Of course, it depends on several factors, so I’d do 5 lb, then 10 lb, etc. and make sure. Slowly load it up rather than doing it all at once.
Hello- in some of the pictures the pipe looks black or antiqued, in another it looks more silver. Was there a treatment applied to make the shiny/new look “aged”?
I’ve made some shelving fixtures for customers from “black” iron pipe and we were surprised that the threads are always longer than the flanges, leaving exposed threads which we didn’t account for, aesthetically, plus they are sharp! so we had to sand them down to make them safer for retail usage. In our experience, the Pipe was very expensive and there’s not a lot of variety in vendors where we are. I look forward to trying your suggested supplier! thank you for sharing.
Hi Mike! There wasn’t a treatment applied – the pipe just arrived that way! It does have some silver areas in person; but also my husband is a photographer and used lighting to take the photo, so that may cause a different look. I will say I was impressed with Supply House. There weren’t many sharp edges if any and the pipe looked good. 🙂
Hi,
Love this and planning mine now. Questions:
1. Beginning of article you say build from top to bottom, but later on, you say add shelves going upward. So do you start at top and work down or at floor and work up?
2. If you start at floor, is the unit standing upright as you build? If so how are you holding it all up since not connected to floor or wall yet. Or is it being assembled on the ground lying flat and then stood upright to attach?
I’ll be doing this mostly alone, so trying to figure out the logistics. Thanks.
Hi Renee!
1) I changed it, you’re right! I meant bottom to top.
2) You can start to lean it against the wall as you assemble it (be careful) and it will kind of stand up on its own (but don’t just leave it standing there). It’s best if you can have two people for the assembly, but if you have to do it alone, I don’t recommend laying it down. It’ll be too heavy to lift!
Where did you find the wine cabinet?
It’s from IKEA!
Hi Amy, I love this book shelf and made a slightly modified version to serve as a 5-tier shoe shelf yesterday. One thing I did realize is that the beginning of your article mentions a 1 1/2″ spade bit and the article later references a 1″ bit. I actually found that a 1 1/4″ bit is perfect and a 1″ was too small for 3/4″ pipe in my case. I also think I will need an 8″ nipple for the top wall anchor, as the 6″ with my floor flanges is quite short. Great instructions and super easy, fun project! Thanks for sharing!
Good catch Rachel! We did use a 1 1/2″ spade so I revised it. Thank you so much for reading!!
@Rachel, I am building a version of these shelves and 1 1/2 is too big of a hole for the fittings. 1 1/4 seems to be right.
Love this shelf. I am in the process of trying to figure this basic shelf out for my bar area. You did an awesome job!!!!
Hey Amy, I love this bookshelf your neighbor made and the weathered look it has to it. I have introduced a new product in the last two years named SteelTek that encompasses the industrial look and style without the threaded ends. I would love to see what you can do with our products!
These shelves look great, and I love that they are at varying heights for interest. The “hanging” shelf section on the lower left is perfect to display that set of books. Thanks for sharing the source for cheaper pipe parts. That can really add up and saving over $1.20 per flange will make it more affordable. It looks great with your floors too!