wall cabinet coming off

Hi,

I will greatly appreciate if anyone can guide me in right direction on this. Our kitchen wall cabinet is coming off of the wall from the top side. Not only this, the outer frame is sliding out of the top and shelves. The top and she;ves seem to sit (and run) in groves in the inside of the outer frame. As you can see I am not good at explaining it in words and woodworking terminologies, therefore here are the pictures

formatting link
I will hate to have it taken off and get it reinstalled. Rather, I will prefer to prevent this situation from getting worse.

Please let me know if you have further questions, I will try my best to explain.

Thanks in advance.

Reply to
aamirghanchi
Loading thread data ...

The best fix, of course, it to take it off, glue it all together, then re-hang it.

Can you push it back into place? If so, You may be able to glue the joints that are pulling apart and put some screws through the particleboard. Use screws made for that material. If one side is next to a wall, you can put a few screw into the side and into a stud in the wall.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Although it's hard to see exactly, I think the situation is this:

  • The shelves are attached to the sides of the cabinet
  • The sides are attached to the back using small nails, as shown in photos 93 and 96. Not very strong.
  • The back is attached to the wall.
  • So when the shelves are loaded they transfer the load to the sides, which transfer it to the joint between them and the back. That's a weak joint (nails have very little strength in the "pull" direction), while the joint between the back and the wall is strong (screws in a wall plug), so it's the joint between the sides and the back that goes.

In other words, you have a cheap, poorly-constructed cabinet which has been over-stressed and is falling apart. If I'm right no remedial action will help; there is nothing for it but to take the thing down and replace it with a new one, preferably better made.

Take heart, though: these things tend to be of a standard size so your new one should fit into the same space and not leave too much damage to the decorations.

Reply to
Henry Law

It's a rather simple fix to put it back "like it was," but chances are it won't last, as the design and construction of the wall cabinet itself is faulty/cheap ... and that's being charitable.

You will most definitely need someone locally who does kitchen cabinets/cabinet installation to come in and spell out your options.

Sorry to say that, while they may be able to fix the visible problem, the underlying cheapness will never go away. If you are the homeowner, you will want to replace it, and any like it.

Reply to
Swingman

  1. You should be able to pound the whole sheebang back into place.
  2. Drive or screw anchors UP into the ceiling joists (may have to drill first to avoid splintering). Go thru the frame if necessary. This will keep the cabinet from rotating outward - which seems to be the result of the poor installation process.
Reply to
HeyBub

Your cabinet is dead. Through extraordinary measures you could put it back together to make it look like a repaired cabinet, but there are enough things wrong with it that it would probably be easier, possibly cheaper or at least a wash, to replace it. From the sticker and general look of it, it's a Mills Pride or equivalent big box store brand, so you might luck out and buy an exact replacement for $100.

If you're dead set on repairing it, taking it down and redoing it is usually pretty straightforward. Wall cabinets are usually held up with just a few screws - few being four or six or so. Just back them out and have someone hold up the cabinet when you're removing the last couple. Use glue, screws and don't worry too much about exposed fasteners on the sides. There are cosmetic buttons and stickers that are made to cover. Big box stores have them. That thin back does a lot of work and there should be plenty of tacks holding it - every few inches. The shelf load is on the sides, so the connection of the sides to the top and particularly to the hanging rail (the horizontal strip along the top of the back of the cabinet) is critical. Some polyurethane glue and some square drive trim head screws should do the trick. If you're willing to give up the adjustability you could nail through the back and into the shelves, though that's probably not necessary if you do a good enough job repairing the case. The face frame, same thing, glue and some finish nails covered with some colored repair wax.

The fifth picture from your link shows a drywall screw through the face frame above the hinge. That's one of the screws you'll have to remove to take the cabinet down. Careful - they tend to snap if your over-torque them. I'm a bit confused about what's going on. That drywall screw should have prevented the cabinet from moving down and forward so much. What happened to the cabinet to the left of the one you photographed?

R
Reply to
RicodJour

I glued and screwed a cheapo cabinet like that back together once. Then I added a screw or two through the face frame side into the frame of the adjoining cabinet. I also added a 3/4 x 3/4 ledger strip to the wall, on which the rear and one side of the cabinet bottom rested. That seemed to give just enough extra strength for it not to come crashing down.

If you have one cabinet in that extreme condition chances are there are others in the kitchen that may have similar trouble. You should check them all first, and depending on how many others may be failing then consider whether repair or replacement is the best alternative.

J.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

Reply to
J.

install inside corner brackets attached to the back and sides. this happens all the time with p.b. cabinets. why? they are crap.........................

Reply to
stainer

Re: Cabinets pulling apart:

First, smear some wood glue between the parts that are pulling apart. Then take the doors off, and whack the thing back together with a rubber mallet.

THEN put metal corner braces in at the top. Try to place them to that you're screwing into the actual wood strip at the top of the cabinet.

If there's anything in the ceiling to attach it to, a peice of quarter-round molding against the front face of the cabinet would keep it forced back against the wall.

--Goedjn

Reply to
Goedjn

With all due respect to those folks who might suggest a solution that does NOT involve removing the cabinet from the wall and rebuilding it, that is the only solution worth the effort. You should buy a bottle of Elmers Woodworking glue (or similar) and have a six or so of clamps wide enough to clamp sides to side and front to back. Save all the fasteners you remove when taking the cabinet down - they appeared to be holding well! Once on the workshop floor or bench, you will be better able to see what came loose and where glue is needed/could be effective. The assembly is a typical "knock-down" variety which will do for years if properly assembled and installed. They do NOT suggest gluing them up in the installation manuals, but your case seems to be the exception! I would glue up every joint and remove the backing to replace it after gluing it up as well.

The advice that the cabinet is a standard size is spot on. It is also very likely that you can find a new unit that matches in every respect and replace yours for about $80 or so. But, if the appearance is acceptable, glue the structure back and put the cash in a CD.

is coming off of the wall from the top

Reply to
Hoosierpopi

Ditto for those who insist that you can only replace the whole units. These things are fine for their purpose as long as they're assembled properly and the parts haven't gotten damaged.

I'm really surprised that the top slid like that. Either it wasn't glued properly (or at all), or it had no fasteners. All the knockdown varieties I've seen have fasteners that would prevent this unless the top completely tore out the fasteners. Which means that this wasn't knockdown, and was improperly assembled at the factory.

The fact that the top is dadoed also implies it wasn't knockdown - they don't bother because the fastener systems (usually barrel bolts) are plenty strong enough. Ikea's aren't dadoed. Nor are HD's. Just plain butt joints.

Knockdown ones generally aren't glued...

Without removal, you _could_ bash it back into place and use pocket hole techniques to drill screws from the top into the sides, but that will likely be unsatisfactory and somewhat unsightly.

I'd take them down too.

Pull the displaced nails on the back (so they won't be in the way), but should be no need to take the back completely off.

Gently ease apart the loose dadoes. If they're not loose, I wouldn't take them apart.

These look like just the top slid - the cabinet should flex enough to get the top out (or at least disengaged from the dado so you can get glue in) without breaking the other joints.

Clean/scrape out any loose crud/glue debris in the dadoes.

Then glue it back in, and use 3 screws (preferably particle board screws, be careful you get them centered and straight) to tighten each dado joint _before_ the glue dries - straight in from the outside. Predrill the holes before gluing.

Put a few screws in the unbroken joints too for insurance. With screws, you don't need clamps if the dadoes have been cleaned adequately.

You could also use strap clamps instead of bar clamps. Instead of strap clamps, you could use a "spanish windlass". It's a loop of strap or rope that you stick a piece of wood through and twist.

You probably could get away with just gluing, but I don't trust glue on particle board. If you can't bring yourself into having exposed screw heads and head buttons on the exposed sides, then, you could not bother screwing that side. Not recommended.

You could get away without gluing because of the screws, but I wouldn't advise it unless you want to use barrel bolts instead or at least rather large head screws, and they're tricky and timeconsuming to install properly.

Then nail the loose areas of the back back in place, and reinstall.

As long as the back isn't damaged in the visible portion, no need to replace. Replacement with exact match is difficult, it'd probably be easier to replace the whole cabinet.

Reply to
Chris Lewis

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.