Load on Kitchen Wall Cabinets

[Saeed]

I've just taken delivery of made to measure kitchen units and although happy with the quality I have a concern about the weight of the wall units. These are very heavy (MDF) compared to the cheap chipboard based ones I removed, and I am worried that once fitted, and laden with grub and dishes and the like, the weight will be too much and cause the units to come crashing down.

The fittings are the metal plate types onto which the units hang.

The units will go on 2 sides of the kitchen, one a stone brick wall, but with about 3 inches of plaster layers (from a previous owner). The other side is a stud frame wall, built with 3x2 studs, with a sheet of 18m plywood over which 9mm plasterboard is fixed. The plywood was fixed to ensure that fixtures/fitting would have something solid to screw into.

The plywood sheet is screwed into the 3x2 studs using 42mm screws and the plasterboard using 50 mm.

It should be solid but I now have nightmare visions of not just the units but the screws holding the plywood being strained to breaking with the weight of handsomely stocked units.

Should I be concerned? Should I considered some extra supports (battens, L-brackets)?

Kind regards,

Saeed

sr_ng 786

[BigWallop]

You shouldn't have any problems with the units falling off the walls Saeed, as long as you use screws that just fix themselves to the plywood and not pierce to far right through it.

The 18 mm plywood covered with 9 mm plasterboard gives you a depth of 27 mm, so you should be using something like 30 or 32 mm long parallel thread screws to hold the brackets on the wall. Hanging the units from these will be fine.

It is always a good idea though, to use a 25 mm X 25 mm batten along the bottom of units that you know are going to carry lots of weight, i.e.. heavy tins, heavy packets and the like, to give a bit more support to the vertical downward forces and then only rely on the top brackets to sort of balance the units against the wall.

Good luck with them, and take your time so you make a good job of it. :-))

[Christian McArdle]

I threw away the instructions for mounting my kitchen units as I wasn't too sure if they were strong enough. I used their leveling supports at the top and made fine adjustments with them, but then used rawlbolts to support the unit proper. These just required a hole (10mm, I think, but might be wrong) drilled through a solid part of the back. Then a deep 10mm hole drilled into the brickwork. The wood holds the drill bit in place perfectly. You insert the rawlplug into the hole and hammer it home, finsihing with a few turns of the screwdriver head. The fittings fill me with confidence. I suspect each fitting would take more than the weight of a person and I used 2 for each cabinet. Indeed, my new steel conservatory base comes with similar plugs for wall mounting one end, so they consider it strong enough to hold up part of a building. I'd get long ones, so you go right into the stone.

Christian.

[Bob Eager]

I used the large steel expanding rawlbolts (the ones you tighten with a spanner). Bolt-size hole in cabinet, 15mm or so hole in brickwork. 75mm sleeve into the brickwork, offer up cabinet, insert bolt and tighten (OK, you tighten first without the cabinet, then undo the bolt, first).

Rather OTT bit it was thick plaster. They're still there as far as I know (we moved house, but only round the corner and I walk past occasionally).

[Christian McArdle]

Does that mean the cabinet must be removed at some point? The advantage of using rawlbolts is that you can get the thing level using the adjusters and not have to remove it again. Just drill, hammer and screw. oo er missus!

Christian.

[myeamil]

I was recommended to use these self-drilling metal screw thingymeebobs that screw through plasterboard and then you screw a conventional screw into them ( does that make sense?) Ive seen them in plastic but was told the metal one were better and held 50 newtons whatever that meant. Do you think 2 of these per bracket would be enough going into plasterboard over 1inch deep lathes or should I go through this into the brickwork with hammer in screws?

Martin

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[JB]

That happened to a freind of mine.

Apart from the shock of waking in the middle of the night to the sound of the units falling off in the wall, he then found another problem.

A complete set of units along one wall of his 'corridor' style kitchen had fallen off. The kitchen had a door at each end, both of which opened inwards. If you tried to open either door it hit against the units which were now lying on the floor, the complete length of the kitchen.

JB

[kitchenman]

The hangers should support 100 KG each end, the usual problem is screws too short

A minimum 3" screw should be used, 2 in each hanger, a total of 4 per unit