Shelf Ripped Out of Wall

[Art Maydan]

The duplex I bought was a gut rehab with no shelving, so I installed it myself. The upstairs unit has a walk-in closet and I put a long shelf with a hanger bar on the two long sides and short shelves on the third size. I mounted them using those triangle brackets from Home Depot with 3 50lb anchors per bracket and 3 brackets per long shelf. All the shelves I did in both units are holding, but the one on my wife’s side was collapsed when we got home yesterday.

She has the side the door opens into. I hadn’t noticed this, but she had all of her million stupid little dresses on the stupid little velvet hangers all hanging on one side because she didn’t want the door to touch them for some reason. Better this happen with us than with a tenant when we move on though.

So I’m thinking I need to patch those holes and mount a shorter shelf so the door can open into the wall and not the shelf. Is it more difficult to patch holes this size? I patched and painted over some smaller stud holes and it looks decent, but these are a few inches in diameter. Was this preventable in how I mounted it (did I use the wrong size anchors or should I have used more brackets?) or did I go wrong in mounting a long shelf that the door would open into?

If I hire a contractor to do this, how much would it cost? I’m having an internal debate between continuing to try to do things myself versus hiring a contractor. I eventually want to own more properties and I don’t want to be a professional handyman. But at this point in time, my time isn’t worth that much money. But I also don’t have much time and could be studying for the broker exam or doing a million other things too. If I do it myself, I learn how to do things myself. If I hire a contractor, I become more experienced in dealing with contractors and it’ll probably be done better…

Before: http://tinypic.com/r/razx4j/9

After: http://tinypic.com/r/2e5o6d2/9