Fixing units to plasterboard

[Gogs]

I have a problem with some units I have been fitting, well one unit.

I am using the adjustable fitting that catch onto a bracket in the wall, I am not sure what you actually call them, its the type where you can adjust them up and down the wall.

The problem is actually fixing the brack to the wall which is plasterboard, I have done this plenty times before with no problems but on this occasion its gone horrible wrong.

Each bracket has two holes for fixing to the wall, this time I done the usual by inserting the Metal RediDriva which can be found on screwfix, nothing unusual here, they go in fine as normal but then I go to put the screws in and they can be a bit stiff towards the end but never normally poses a problem but this time the RediDriva just went right through the plasterboard leaving a nice circular hole! I tried to insert a heavy duty redidriva into one of the holes as they are slightly thicker but same thing happened, I now have one rather large hole and a HD RediDriva in the other which isnt secure, what can I do, there is no room for moving the brackets.....Help!

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Get a piece of wood a couple of inches bigger than the hole,slide it into hole and screw it to the plaster from outside in, plaster hole then try again.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Christian McArdle]

What sort of unit are you mounting? I wouldn't dream of mounting a piece of furniture, such as a kitchen or bathroom cupboard, to a plasterboard wall. Find the studs and use normal screws into those.

Christian.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Ha! but positioning the units don't always coincide with studding. :-)

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Christian McArdle]

Then I would pull down the plasterboard and place noggings where appropriate. Then replace the plasterboard.

An alternative, depending on the type of unit can be used when the wall units have 2cm or so of channel behind.

In this case, cut a plank of wood to the length of the run of units, minus double the thickness of the chipboard. Mount this to the wall with screws at the stud locations. Then, modify the units to remove a 2cm depth of side panels where the wood panel would intrude into them. DO NOT cut the side panels at either end of the run! Now contrive a way to fix the units to the wood. Extra points if you can think of a way of doing so in a concealed fashion!

Christian.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Christian McArdle wrote: [snip]

Extra points if you can think of a way of doing so in a concealed fashion.

Thats easy...

Benjamin Middlethwaite

[nightjar]

The fixing points are not always convenient on a solid wall either. In my kitchen they were too close to a water pipe at one end and too close to an electric cable at the other. I also had the problems that part of the run had to span an old chimney alcove and that the line of the fixings ran along a horizontal mortar joint, which made fitting a horizontal batten difficult. I fitted sheets of thick MDF to the wall where it was convenient to fix them and then fitted the cupboards to the MDF. I found that so much easier to do that it will probably be my standard method in future.

Colin Bignell

[Gogs]

Yes the studs are not conveniently placed and the kitchen I removed, they had attempted to do it this way and soon found out half the unit was only held up with a very long screw into plasterboard which resulted in 1000mm unit looking like it was fit to drop.

I have used these fixings several times in plasterboard for some heavy items and never had a problem yet, apart from today of course.

Pulling down the plasterboard is a bit too dramatic, hoping for a easier quicker solutions.

Its these brackets that using..Screwfix - 19951 with these brackets

14309, they are not screwfix ones as such but thats what comes with B and Q flatpack, another matter has anyone had experience of these, I find sometimes one side will get a good grip hard to the wall and the other might not be so good, have had a peek at some showrooms and they have put some screws in the bottom corners as well but all it is going through it the wafer thin backing.

Would these screwfix Hollow Wall Anchors 12429 be the quick solution perhaps, the hole that is left is about 12mm, of course I still have the problem of removing the HD driva I thought might get a grip..

[Housemartin]

I would also go for fixing wood to the noggings also, but you may not need to take down lots of plasterboard, just a 8 inch strip at the top of the units cut out and half inch ply inserted might suffice .Also toggle fastners are good for plasterboard .

[xscope]

Use appropriate sized hollow wall anchors

I've got them holding my kitchen units up - they're solid as a rock.

E.g. screwfix item 18266.

[Gogs]

Thanks for the reply, will they grip ok now I am left with a 13mm pilot hole ;)

Never used them hollow wall anchors, would they still be ok given the holes already made.

Dunno what happened to that two worms today, I have used them countless time with no bother, maybe I had too much wheetabix this morning

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thats a fuking brillian way to do it Colin.

I will pass on another piece of genius I invented

You have an uneven wall, against which you wish to build a kitchen. Its nature and origin are uncertain, but horsehair, hazel sticks and cow dung have at varous times fallen from it. You want to install sockets above thee worktops as well. And tile the splashback.

Builders have muttred about 'have to cut in sockets and reskim before I can make a decent job'

WRONG.

Put your base units in and level up with a level. Run cable in trrinking, clipped to te wall otr just left hanging behind them..and up to where you mount metal boxes on top of the old wall. These can be glued with car body filler..

Fit your worktop as best you can. Ignore any gaps up to an inch...at the back

Now get a sheet of MDF as wide as teh gap between worktop and cupboards above, with holes cut where te metal electrical boxes go..and using bits of batten glued to the wall with body filer, sctick it in place over te worktop and almost against the wall.

If yopu are a stckler, carry it all the way up to te ceiling, f youcant be arsed. stop it below cupboard level

Glue anpoher bit of MDF on some more bits of batten, packed out with scrap ply to get it all level - superglue is your friend ...to mount the cupboards on..thse will rest on the lower bit of MDF providing enormous support.

Fill the gap at the back of the cupboard tops with expanding foam. sliced off sanded and covered with a scrap of lining paper, bed=fire painting to match the walls.

Tile your MDF splashback, final fix the sockets.. and enjoy.

[vonryan]

You can buy the brackets that attach to the walls in 2.4 metre length

(about a fiver) and cut it to the internal width of the unit, say 974m for a typical 1000mm wide wall cuboard and you can get at least 8 goo fixings in which spreads the load much better.

For the huge hole you've made a heavy duty toggle cavity clip woul probably fill the gap and give you a fixing