Hanging garage cabinets

[Bobby]

I'm in the process of building some hanging cabinets for my garage. I had several sheets of 3/4 MDF laying around and I'm using those sheets for the cabinets so I know they are going to be heavy. This is my concern, the wall that i will be attaching these cabinets to are 24" OC. I cannot align the cabinets to the wall so the stud would line up down the middle of the cabinet. It currently lines up either on the far right or left side of the cabinet and considering how heavy the cabinet will be, I feel I have to go with another option. I was thinking of making a french cleat from a 1x6  and running it the length of the wall or buying the metal ones the have about a 200lb weight rating. Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[Don Foley]

My first thought while reading your post was french cleats, whether home made from 1 by lumber or purchased pre-made.  These should do the trick.

[James P. Cottingham]

I was thinking french cleats, too.

Here is a WoodSmith video of that very thing.

[Andy Harris]

Hi Bobby.  What I did with mine was screw  1 by 4 baton below where the bottom of the cabinets will sit. and then use that to take the weight of the cabinets.  I then just screwed the cabinets where I could to the studs.  You can see what I mean here.  http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/albums/garage-storage  I intend at some point to hide that baton with tool board as well so you won't even see it.   This worked well for me and takes all the weight of the cabinet.

[Jay Boutwell]

Hi Bobby contrary to what many believe the weight of a cabinet is not as much downward pressure as there it the outward pressure at the top.   If you think about it where does the weight of the cabinets and it contents go when doors are opened.  If you were to watch a cabinet fall off the wall it does not fall straight down but its top comes off the wall and the botton will push harder into the wall.  I had to testify in court in a civil trial and they plaintief attorneys had a re enactment of the event and that is what the results proved.

In your situation the best route is to use a "french Cleat"  What happens in a loaded cabinet is that it wants to pull out at the top and when it does then all the pressure is exherted inwards at the bottom.  That means that it pushes in at the bottom  towards the wall and a baton at the bottom will do very little.   It is the top that needs to be secured more than the bottom.

I can tell you a story of which I personally was involved in reparing the damage to a counter top and cabinets.  It was a new set of kitchen cabinets that was installed by cabinet installation business.  They did not secure the top of the cabinets well enought so about 8 feet of cabinets fell off the wall and down onto the new granite counter top and broke the counter top and damaged the upper top of the cabinets breaking off the doors as they swung open as the cabinet toppled off the wall.

 

The bad thing about this situation was that the eldery lady of the home had just loaded her dishes into the cabinet including some antique heirloom dishes and still standing in front of the cabinets when they fell.  It fell on top of her and she ended up with a broken arm and several brusies from the falling cabinet.  She spend several months with the arm in a cast and it was a pretty sever injury,  There was a law suit filed and it cost the business that installed the cabinets several thousand dollars.

[james wilhelm]

Bobby, agree with Jay, James p. and Don  would also go with the french cleats, will be a lot safer !!  Nice write up Jay  very informative safety all ways comes first , JIM !!!

[Bobby]

Thank you all for your input, and I respect everyone's opinion and you've all been a great help. Listening to all of you it just validates my thought of using a french cleat. I have to agree with James; Jay, very informative.

I have an additional question. I'm leaning towards buying the metal french cleats but I can only find them 18" long and remembering that my wall is dry walled and 24" OC that means I can only get one screw into a stud and the second screw would have to be set with a dry wall anchor, and I'm uncertain that would hold the weight. I'm only thinking of the metal ones because of the 200lb weight rating that they say they have. So knowing this would I be better off using 1by lumber and running the length of the wall? Do you think that would have the same weight bearing capacity of the metal ones?

[Jay Boutwell]

Bobby, I would use some 1 x 4 that is knot free and put two screws per stud in it.   That way you could put it the full length of the cabinet run.  That way you could  then add screws in through the cabinet and into each stud.  To keep it tight to the wall at the bottom end a screw again through the cabinet back and into each stud.

 

 Using a good grade of wood should be  stronger than the metal as you have more bearing surface of the cabinet resting on a hanger.  If you apply the French cleat to the cabinet and also have a hanging strip on the inside of the cabinet of which you bond the cabinet box and its back to the cleat you will have one strong attachment to the wall. 

Bobby said:

Thank you all for your input, and I respect everyone's opinion and you've all been a great help. Listening to all of you it just validates my thought of using a french cleat. I have to agree with James; Jay, very informative.

I have an additional question. I'm leaning towards buying the metal french cleats but I can only find them 18" long and remembering that my wall is dry walled and 24" OC that means I can only get one screw into a stud and the second screw would have to be set with a dry wall anchor, and I'm uncertain that would hold the weight. I'm only thinking of the metal ones because of the 200lb weight rating that they say they have. So knowing this would I be better off using 1by lumber and running the length of the wall? Do you think that would have the same weight bearing capacity of the metal ones?