[steve42]

Our home has proven to be a huge blessing, but one of the shortcomings we discovered is we have insufficient storage in the master bath. I decided to take an idea from the master bath we renovated in our old house and install a full size wall cabinet in the water closet above the toilet. I purchased a 30" wide two door cabinet from Home Depot to fill the need.

As I began the process, I discovered that the studs in the wall behind the toilet are not on 16" centers (because the plumbing vent pipe is in the middle of the wall). I also figured out that with the 34" width of the WC, the outer corners would not reach studs, so I decided to go with a French Cleat.

I ripped a pine 1x4 on a 45 degree angle and fastened the first part to the wall using #10 x 2-1/2 wood screws to the three studs. Then I fastened the other half to the top rear of the (particle board) cabinet using seven #8 x 1-1/4" wood screws. I hung it on the wall and centered it along the wall. Then I tacked another strip of 1X2 to the bottom rear edge to level the cabinet.

So here is my dilemma:

We won't always live in this house. While my wife and I know that this is a particle board cabinet with a pine French cleat and shorter screws than I would like to use, and therefore we aren't likely to over load the cabinet, I am concerned that in the future, someone might grab the bottom of the cabinet and use it to steady themselves to step onto the toilet to reach the upper shelf. I don't trust the construction materials involved to support someone's weight, but I don't know how I can add more rigidity to the installation.

I know that some installers use toggle bolts to hang wall cabinets, but I don't know if adding anything like that to the installation will gain much more security.

So, any advice?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[steddy]

Dismount, coat the back of the cabinet with liquid nail or other construction adhesive, remount using your current method. Cabinet will break before it ever comes off the wall, most likely.

 

[Greybeard09]

Cabinet will break before it ever comes off the wall

Might do this with the current mounting... These things are getting more poorly made with each run.


Anyways... Construction adhesive would be a good idea.

 

[steve42]

Dismount, coat the back of the cabinet with liquid nail or other construction adhesive, remount using your current method. Cabinet will break before it ever comes off the wall, most likely.

That won't work. With a French cleat installation, there is an air gap between the cabinet and the wall to accommodate the cleat.

 

[G-1]

Seems like fastening a piece of 3/4" plywood (that was close to the size of the cabinet back) to the wall and then screwing the cabinet to the plywood would have worked.

Gerald

 

[steddy]

That won't work. With a French cleat installation, there is an air gap between the cabinet and the wall to accommodate the cleat.

Gotcha.

 

[FlintMich]

I would first have to ask why you used shorter screws than you would have liked?
Whenever I use a French Cleat on a large cabinet I like to locate at least one or two studs and run a long enough "safety" screw through the back panel of the cabinet, through the cleat and drywall and into the stud. This screw doesn't support any weight per-se (the cleat carries the weight) but it removes any possibility of the cleats separating.

If the back panel is too thin to be of any structural significance, you could cut another length of the 1X4 just long enough to fit snugly on the inside of the cabinet. Place it inside, along the back of the cabinet sitting on top of the highest shelf (nobody will ever see it there) and use glue or adhesive between the 1X4 strip and the back panel. Then run a couple pins or finish nails through the sides of the cabinet into this 1X4 strip (the side panels should be more structural than the back panel). Then inside the cabinet run the "safety" screw through that strip, through the drywall and into the stud.

That should be plenty of support for a basic cabinet. And by the way, if someone other than you or the wife is grabbing your cabinet and climbing on your toilet, maybe they NEED a cabinet to fall on them. LOL.
:sidelaugh

 

[Obscured_by_Clouds]

I purchased a 30" wide two door cabinet

But how tall and how deep? Oak or melamine?

Chances are the cabinet may be heavier than anything you put in it. Most of the ones I've looked at already have internal cross members for mounting support, but not all of them. If not, I would add one at top and bottom.

The support board should be securely screwed to the studs with long enough screws. I'd use something like 8 x 2 1/2 drywall screws, maybe 8 x 3's and I'd have the bottom board mounted the same way. Then run another set of screws from inside the cabinet that penetrate the mounting boards.

Some quarter round or shoe molding will cover the side gaps if they're visible and help keep bugs out from behind the cabinet.

 

[PineRidge]

As flintmich suggested the answer is to place a strip of wood inside the cabinet. This should be placed and screwed through the back of the cabinet into the cleat that is attached to the back of the cabinet.
This will hold any weight up to the limit of the shelves and cabinet itself. If the weight limit is exceeded the cabinet will fail before the attachment to the cleat and wall assuming the cleat attached to the wall is properly attached.
The construction of the cabinet is itself the weakest point and will fail first.

 

[DJ in WV]

I would like to add that drywall screws should not be used to hang a cabinet. The shank on a drywall screw is very thin, designed to only take forces in the tensile direction, not the shear direction that hanging a cabinet would induce.

 

[steve42]

I would first have to ask why you used shorter screws than you would have liked?

I used #10 x 2-1/2" Wood Screws to hold the French cleat to the wall (studs on both ends and another about 12" in from one end). NO other stud available. I could only use 1" screws to attach the cleat to the rear of the cabinet.

Whenever I use a French Cleat on a large cabinet I like to locate at least one or two studs and run a long enough "safety" screw through the back panel of the cabinet, through the cleat and drywall and into the stud. This screw doesn't support any weight per-se (the cleat carries the weight) but it removes any possibility of the cleats separating.

Unfortunately, with the cabinet centered on the wall, a screw from the upper corners inside the cabinet would not reach the studs. That's why I needed a cleat to facilitate mounting in the first place.

And by the way, if someone other than you or the wife is grabbing your cabinet and climbing on your toilet, maybe they NEED a cabinet to fall on them.

I'm more concerned about an unsuspecting future owner. My wife learned not to grab cabinets and stand on toilets after she lost her balance and snapped the PVC closet flange in our old house.

Steve