A Shelf, Start to Finish

Your 1930s semi has an alcove beside the chimney breast in the front room, about 700 mm wide, and you want a bookshelf across it at chest height. The alcove's back wall knocks solid. It's smooth painted plaster. In a house this age, a textured coating would have been a reason not to drill at all until it was checked for asbestos, as What Lies Beneath explains. A double socket sits low on the wall, under the left-hand end of where the shelf will go. You've bought a timber shelf 250 mm deep and a pair of steel brackets.

It's your house, so the wall is yours to drill. Each question below is a decision you'd face on the day.