flatpack kitchen - to glue or not to glue

[The Other Mike]

How, other than by gravity are they fixed to the floor?

Also the worktop is essentially fixed to the base units.

[Skipweasel]

And to the wall. In my experience, once the worktop and the carcasses are screwed to the wall and to each other, there ain't much moving. Particularly once the worktop has been sealed to the tiles. The bead of sealant may be flexible in small pieces, but a long run of it is very resilient.

[The Medway Handyman]

Agreed. If they are fixed to the wall & worktop they ain't going anywhere. No point in gluing.

[Nightjar]

On 26/01/2011 00:00, The Medway Handyman wrote: ...

My view is that the act of fixing them to something solid could pull them out of true if they are not glued to become a rigid structure to begin with. Obviously, that is not something that will make commercial sense if you are assembling them as a business and most people won't notice anyway. However, every corner of every unit in my kitchen is perfect if you test it with a set square.

Colin Bignell

[Nightjar]

On 25/01/2011 14:32, Tabby wrote: ...

I can't think of any way, short of destroying the unit, that I could take a unit out of my kitchen without completely dismantling it into individual carcases. As I said in reply to TMH, I take the view that it is important to turn each carcase into a rigid and true structure before fixing it to something solid, so that the act of fixing cannot pull it out of true.

Colin Bignell

[The Medway Handyman]

Its not the commercial aspect, although gluing would take time, its simply that I don't believe its necessary.

If I assemble & fix kitchen units I check they are square during & after fixing - because if they aren't adjusting the doors is a PITA.

[Dave Liquorice]

Built in dishwasher or freestanding?

So a 600mm wide unit from one maker isn't 600mm wide from another?

[Dave Liquorice]

Little metal bracket and screws.

If I can arrange it the worktop is self supporting as much as possible, at the very least it will be on and attached to batten fixed to the wall. The units are then fitted up to the worktop and packed underneath as required to provide additional support. More brackets and screws hold everything in place.

[Dave Liquorice]

Hum, not very good at getting fixings where we want them? Everything is assembled and in the right place then fixed to prevent it moving, nothing huge just to stop movement.

Must make for some interesting gap filling along the walls. B-) I've yet to find any building that is truely square in all three directions.

[Skipweasel]

Ah - there we differ. I prefer to have the full weight of the worktop on the carcasses and then screwed back the wall with angle-brackets - though the sealant does most of the actual work. I've done several like that and never had trouble with them coming loose.

What's well worth doing is shoving a dab of polyurethane glue into the holes in the walls first, so the screw is really well held in and doesn't have any room to fret at the masonry.

[tim....]

freestanding.

No, what I mean is, not all makers have 400 units to fit the gap

tim

[The Other Mike]

All I've ever seen between the carcass and the floor are plastic legs about an inch and a half diameter that are adjustable, they are in one of the online catalogues Blum / Woodfit or Isaac Lord can't be sure which.

I've not fitted a kitchen unit for over 25 years and the ones I recently recycled for temporary storage in a garage were a couple of years old and again of the plastic foot type with just a couple of screws for fitting to a wall batten. I simply adjusted the feet to the same distance from the base of the carcass, placed it on the near level floor and screwed it to the wall, I couldn't see any metal brackets although I didn't pull the unit out from the original installation.

But even then it's not really self supporting by being cantilevered off the wall batten is it?