I'm re-building my recessed, built in entertainment center ... to make a long story short, our TV followed our refrigerator to Paradise, and our Christmas presents this year were then determined.

I'm repurposing the wood from the old entertainment center, with some new 3/4 ply. The wood will be painted. The top shelf is 25 3/4" x 82", and will span the 82" width of the recess without a center support. To do this, I "over-engineered" the shelf by laminating two 1" steel square tubes between two sheets of 3/4" ply, with 1" dividers every 16" to form a kind of steel-wood torsion box assembly. It is heavy, probably 100 pounds or so.

Will 1" hardwood ledgers, along the two side walls and all the way along the back, be enough to support the shelf? I think it will, but I want a sanity check before I put my 55" flat panel TV under it.