I want to fix some shelving to plasterboard walls. Internal walls in a modern house. The shelving I want to use is the adjustable type - strips of metal into which brackets are slotted. The shelves will hold books, paper etc. some quite heavy.
According to the stud detector i've used, the studs behind the plasterboard are in totally the wrong places to screw the metal strips to - that is if the weight is going to be distributed evenly.
Can someone please off me advice as to what kind of fixings I need to hold the strips to the plasterboard wall and what kind of weight i can put on them. I need one set of 6' shelves (3 shelves) and one set of 4' (3 shelves).
As the others have said, you cannot get a good enough fixing on PB for anything substantial. You CAN get good fixings on the studs, providing you use good screws etc and are careful that they are driven squarely in (in the centre of each stud to avoid splitting) As far as measurements of shelving etc go, these are dictated by the studding - IE, if the studs are at 16 inch centres, the length of your shelves have to be multiples of this, 16, 32, 48 etc, otherwise they will sag at the ends.
The message from "R.P.McMurphy" contains these words:
You just get used to transferring loads down to the floor. It's not hard
- just different. Most of the shelves and things here are done with MDF vertical panels sitting on a plinth (with webs in the plinth to carry the load through to the floor) and glued to the wall along the back edge. Once a couple of shelves are in each column it all stiffens up nicely.
I know the general advice so far is don't, but my last house was all plasterboard and these walls held 5 feet central heating radiators with no problem, which are a hell of a weight when full of water.
Now I come to think about it, our kitchen units are all attached to plasterboard walls and not via the studs either. These are also some weight by the time the dishes etc are in them.
Both heaters and units were attached using these hollow wall anchors
formatting link
this the kind of shelving you plan to use where you just insert the brackets into these uprights?
formatting link
so then personally I would have no problems in attaching these to plasterboard using the hollow wall anchors.
With a new build the kitchen will be catered for by the architect demanding that patresses ply boards be built into the walls before the plasterbaord goes on. The fitters then just screw into the ply.
Failing that the fitters will have to put boards up on the studding, over the plaster and screw to them.
And that is what you must do. Buy some soffit or something and fix them to the studs at the heights that you want to set the brackets ot=r the screws in the stanchions.
Depending on their make and section, there will be countersunk screw holes every 6 to 18 inches. ou don't need a screw in each one. 3 or four decent x10's will take the weight.So you will only need 3 or 4 horizontal strips of soffit or batton behind them.
I'd space them so that your shelving can rest on them, thus adding support whilst being hid to some extent. You will need to notch out the shelving to get it past the stanchions (uprights.)
With such a support you can use fewer brackets. With fewer brackets you need fewer stanchions. That will thus save you money or allow you to erect more shelving elsewhere. Either way you are on a winner.
If the studs are jumbo tins, then you will have to use gripfill on the battons, to help take the load. Jumbo studding is absolute crap and should be banned. If you miss the studwork, the plasterboard will come off them and they are held together (or rather apart) by the plasterboard.
You could cut out a section of plasterboard and stick battens across the wall screwed to the studs, with the uprights then screwed to the battens.
Failing that if you must use the PB directly use a decent fixing like:
formatting link
take the uprights right down to the floor if possible.
With long uprights, most of the load on the PB is in shear and not tension. Hence the hollow wall anchors ought to work quite well. I have hung rads from these without any problem in the past.
Sorry I should have added that our kitchen is in an extension that wasn't originally designed as a kitchen. The units are directly attached to the plasterboard via the hollow fixings. And like I said, are rock solid.
They will have used patresses or found the studding.
The base units might be fixed to the wall but a lot of the rigidity is from the worktop and their interconnection.
The top units might have a batton behind them in the recess designed for them or the fitter may have screwed though into the brickwork.
Either way you were lucky. I have no doubt the tiles are now taking some of the weight of the top cabinets. If you -or anyone reading, do ever get a problem with them, just gripfill and screw a baton under them.
You might take them down and put a baton behind. There is usually just enough room for a PAR 2 x 1 to fit between the sides behind the hardboard backing.
Nonsense! Fixing onto plasterboard takes a lot more care and planning than brick, but it can be done, even for heavy loads like rads, cupboards, cooker hoods etc. Planning the fixing so that as many fittings go into studs makes things easier as you say, but it's not essential, and sods law dictates that the place you *really want to hang the stuff* doesn't comply with position of the studs.
The type of shelving that the op is proposing should actually be pretty easy, as the modular shelving rails usually allow fitting into the walls at several points, spreading the load, and the long length of the vertical rails minimises the moment force that would normally be trying to pull the shelf support out of the wall. If you want to absolutely maximise the load ability of the shelves you could leave rails as long as possible so you can have more fixings into the p/b, or even have the rails go to the skirting, although I doubt that is really needed.
I did yes. It was at a time I didn't have a clue about any type of fittings and good old B&Q directed me towards toggles for hollow walls. I was a bit dubious at the time but have certainly been impressed with how well the fixings have held the cabinets and that is without tiles below them to help the support. However the kitchen is due to be changed very shortly and no doubt I will do it by the "preferred" method.
Many years ago, I sat next to an entire wall of computer manuals held up with plasterboard fixings. I was a bit dubious when the man came to do them, but they stayed up. Fortunately.
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.