Fitting wall units - plasterboard - advice please

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Fitting wall units - plasterboard - advice please

18 posts & 14 voices | Started 12 months ago by DickBarton | Latest reply from Marmoset

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DickBarton - Member

Evening...

I'm about to embark on my 'greatest' DIY project yet...essentially greatest as once installed, they will be taking a bit of weight (rather than a curtain!). The wife is rather picky so I'm fully expecting to be told that even though it is straight both in the horizontal and vertical plain, they aren't right and need changed/removed/repositioned.

They are going into plasterboard and according to the guy in B&Q, the large hollow wall mounts are all I need. So I bought them but I'm just wanting to check with the pros about how I'm going to do this.

The units sit on 2 plates - each plate has 3 sliders so 3 anchor points - to allow me to get the unit straight - I drill a 12mm hole and stick the 'spreader' into the hole, then put the bolt through the plate and start screwing into wall.

Just before there is no movement on the plate, I stick the cupboard on and adjust to make it straight then give the bolts a proper tighten. Now as I tighten the bolts, they pull the insert back and it spreads out - looks like it will spread about 2cm's in 3 directions.

Is this genuinely enough to hold a wall unit up with stuff in it?

I'm expecting to do this with relative ease but find that they have pulled the wall down when I return from work.

Is it as simple as drilling the holes in the wall for the plates, inserting the insert, bolting the plate to the wall and tighten it all up?

Also, how best to decide position of units? There is a worktop underneath them, do I just put them where I think they feel comfy and then just drill the 6 holes (3 holes for each plate)? What do I need to careful of in the wall? It's a utility room with the downstairs toilet behind the wall I'll be drilling - house is 5 years old now. Toilet is on the other side of the wall.

Thanks.

Posted 12 months ago #
midlifecrashes - Member

Yes, the plasterboard will hold up your wall unit. It might even hold it up when you fill it up. If you're really lucky it'll hold it up once you've filled it up and put the breadmaker, sandwich toaster and waffle iron on top. If you don't want to take the risk, find out what the plasterboard is screwed to and attach it to that. Expect horizontal wood every 600 or 400mm in the wall. Poke a hole somewhere that's definitely going to be covered by the unit, then poke stuff through until you get wood. Fix to that. If there are no electricals on either side you prob won't find any inside, but always go easy as you break through, and know where the stopcock and fusebox are.

Posted 12 months ago #
Neil F - Member

I wouldn't rely soley on the plasterboard to hold up a kitchen unit. As midlife said, find the studs, you can usually get a rough idea where the first one will be by tapping the wall with a hammer and listening for the "less hollow" sound when you hit a stud.

Posted 12 months ago #
Kona TC - Member

You could cut out a section of plaster board that will be hidden once the units are in place. Then in the gap you can fix some 1/2 plywood which can be screwed to the studs. This will give you a solid fixing

Posted 12 months ago #
totalshell - Member

next problem, its often the case that the butterfly will not go all the way in or spread once in leaving you picking the crockery off the floor, find those battons and away you go.. batton finding is easy.. sharp thin nail into plaster board at regular intervals you ll soon find the battons.. use 2 inch no 10 or 12 screws. job done.

Posted 12 months ago #
project - Member

Mark the height of the cupboards on wall and measure the length, obtain a length of 2 x 1 inch timber planed and secure to wall using wall plugs suitable for plasterboard walls, this will now act as a support for the cupboards, from this datum you can then work out the location of the height of the fixing plates.

When hanging the cupboards remove the doors, and internal shelves, also dont forget to screw each unit to the next one for added security.

Oh and check for cables and pipes with a metal detector, palstic water pipes dont show up though.

Posted 12 months ago #
ernie_lynch - Member

What Kona TC says. Although you might find easier to nog it out with something like 3x2 rather than ply (easier to tosh nail) Patch up the holes with plasterboard to maintain the correct packing out, but don't bother making good if it's hidden behind the wall unit. Plasterboard alone is not strong enough to hold a wall unit full of plates, tins, etc.

Also screw wall units which are next to each other, together - they will help hold each other up should one have a poor fixing/become loose for any reason.

You could also ignore the adjustable fixings if the wall units have a solid back/brace and screw directly into the studs (after making certain all is level) This works well where there are several units next to each other and they are screwed together as mentioned above. You could still use the adjustable fixings but with just plasterboard fixings - the 2 1/2 inch tens (or whatever screws you're using) into the studs, will be doing all the work.

how best to decide position of units?

Not above the cooker/hob please, and at least 100mm from the edge. Also make certain that the unit is correctly handed so that the door doesn't open over the cooker/hob.

Posted 12 months ago #
DickieS - Member

Presumably, once you've found a baton or two, sods law there'll still be a couple of fixings that'll need to go into cavity/plasterboard. You'll be really lucky if there's a baton at both ends for all 6 fixings in the right place.

My advice for the ones that fall on a hollow bit, is find your nearest Hilti dealer, they have proper industrial strength cavity fixings which you insert using a spring loaded gun and have 2" 8mm bolts running through them.

Having ripped out and installed a new kitchen in our new build appartment (I used to be a cabinet maker), that has no batons because all the internal walls just have thin aluminium uprights, I now have 6 high level wall cabinets hanging on these fixings with everything from food to loads of crockery. They are perfectly secure.

For added re-assurance you could also fix your own baton under the bottom back edge of your units. You can fix this up first, get it nice and level then rest the unit on it while you mark up where you need the rest of the fixings for your brackets.

If you are putting the cabinets together yourself first, use the backs to help you get them square, measure the diagonals to check for square if you don't have tools. This will help a lot with getting it flat on the wall and make hanging doors etc a lot easier.

Hope this helps,

Rich

Posted 12 months ago #
chickenman - Member

What I do is, screw a strip of 15mm ply, say 80mm high (screwed into the nearest stud) and the right width to fit between the unit wall brackets that I've fixed up with screw-in PB fixings. I then screw through the back panel into the ply; the weight of the unit being taken by the top panel sitting on the ply.

Posted 12 months ago #
stumpyjon - Member

I love you lot, everytime someone mentions hanging something heavey off plasterboard there's a sharp intake of breath and then the world ends. Plasterboard is very strong provided the right fixings are used.

These will hold a huge amount of weight. In fact all the double radiators in my house which weigh more than I can lift when full (there's a couple I can only just lift when empty) are held onto the plasterboard with them as are all the units in the kitchen. My house is plasterboard throughout, external walls have no batons, the plaster board is fixed with dobs of adhesive stuff. The breeze blocks behind are thermolite so about as load bearing as cheese. After ten years I've yet to have anything even come away from a way from a wall yet alone end up on the floor.

The only thing I would recommend is the use of a setting tool as they can chew up the back of the plasterboard, weakening it,if you try to complress the wings just by tightening the bolt.

Posted 12 months ago #
ernie_lynch - Member

I love you lot, everytime someone mentions hanging something heavey off plasterboard there's a sharp intake of breath and then the world ends. Plasterboard is very strong provided the right fixings are used

Makes you wonder why house builders pay large amounts of money to carpentry subcontractors to nog out flats and houses to take kitchen units, rads, bathroom fittings, etc, ........it seems such a waste eh ?

Maybe someone ought to tip them off that all they need is "the right fixings".......they would save themselves a lot of time and money - specially during these difficult times for the industry.

Posted 12 months ago #
deadlydarcy - Member

**** using plasterboard to hold kitchen wall units filled with the shite that they get filled with.

The only thing I'd hang from plasterboard is a picture (a cheap, light one).

Posted 12 months ago #
Ambrose - Member

Two things

1- " Poke a hole somewhere that's definitely going to be covered by the unit, then poke stuff through until you get wood. " Sniggers childishly...

2- http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_19164.htm?WT.mc_id=2011-05-31-11-13

FWIW, I'd try to fix to the battens if possible, if not I wouldn't worry too much after a month of it staying up. Which it more than likely will. However, for your peace of mind, get your partner to check over the spec sheets for the units and the fixings, then let her lose with the drill whilst you have a cup of tea/ go ride etc.

Posted 12 months ago #
wrightyson - Member

Ernie, Tosh nailing??? I always thought it was tush nailing?? I will happily stand hanging via a piece of plasterboard waiting to be corrected!!

Posted 12 months ago #
ernie_lynch - Member

I always thought it was tush nailing??

You're joking right ?

Posted 12 months ago #
deadlydarcy - Member

tush nailing

I think that's what Americans call it...

Posted 12 months ago #
ernie_lynch - Member

Google "tush nail" .......and then google "tosh nail"

.....there's quite a difference.

Posted 12 months ago #
Marmoset - Member

Are they going onto external walls? If so, it's unlikely to be just pasterboard, more like dry lining over the internal block skin of the wall. If this is the case then screw the plates onto the plasterboard with some 5-6" screws straight into the block. Did that with mine a few years ago and they're holding fast! There's generally not enough room between the plasterboard and blocks to allow an expanding butterfly to do it's thing IME.

Posted 12 months ago #

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