Fixing a mantle to the wall

Mrs Wookie has decided that instead of an old bit of reclaimed wood for a mantle, she’d quite like a small bit of railway sleeper instead (or some other similarly sized rough cut wood)

I’ve seen a few ideas for mounting them on the chmimney breast, mostly the hidden shelf brackets. However, I’d need to create a recess in the wood for them (not difficult, but I’d rather not have to) and still find screws strong enough to take the weight of a lump of wood and long enough to hold in a 150 year old sandstone chimney.
I like the idea of using long coach screws. They’d be visible from the front of the wood, but means that I can just drill throughthe wood, drill and plug the holes in the chimney and drive them in. Something like 10mm diameter and 300mm long should work I think?

MrsWookie is happy with being able to see the bolts (if they’re black)

Any reason not to?

i used threaded rod epoxy bonded into the timber and drilled holes right through the breast into large spreader plates to spread load – i have access in the chimney though.

You may not i guess.

see the below photo i took using a potato for an old thread – if it works.

Not what you’re planning to do, but I got some bolts which allowed some up and down adjustment to level the mantle. The two halves weren’t concentric, so rotating the bolt moved one bit up and down.

Actual railway sleepers are fairly nasty. Soaked in chemicals – I wouldn’t one being gently warmed by the fire and off gasing.

Can you have vertical supports? That’s the simplest solution. You could use chemical anchors I guess? How hard are the bricks?

Kitchen cabinets use a type of slimline bracket where a plate with an upward pointing flange is screwed to the wall, and a downward facing bolt head (or similar) connected to the cabinet hooks over it and gravity does the rest. If you could make a recess in the back of the sleeper that would work.

Actual railway sleepers are fairly nasty. Soaked in chemicals – I wouldn’t one being gently warmed by the fire and off gasing.

This will likely be a B&Q sleeper, so no tar.

Not what you’re planning to do, but I got some bolts which allowed some up and down adjustment to level the mantle. The two halves weren’t concentric, so rotating the bolt moved one bit up and down.

I like the ideas of those.

bnq sleeper will be pricy .

have a look on ebay, some cracking bits of timber depending on budget and finish required.

mine came from there – wasnt cheap but was easy.

2 man lift though – alot heavier than you might think for a 6inch square bit of wood.

Years ago I just used key hole brackets in the back of the sleeper and dropped it on to two screws in the chimney breast.

We were going to have some kind of lump of wood until we were in the stove shop and saw one with just a black metal trim around the fire place opening, looked much neater and more modern. Depends on what look you’re going for though.

Just found a pic I took 🙂

cool.
we’re in an old cottage so bit of wood she wants, and for £20 it’s cheap enough.

Just fitted two mantels in our house, they were supplied with keyhole brackets a bit like This .
Didn’t use them in the end as I installed as I was building the fireplace but should be just the job. Can be bought with the correct size wood bit to countersink into the sleeper.

Years ago I just used key hole brackets in the back of the sleeper and dropped it on to two screws in the chimney breast.

you know, the more i think about it, the more this will likely be easier.

I used a hole cutter drillbit to create an oversized hole into which the bolts are recessed, using a socket set to tighten them up.

I then cut a bit of off cut the same to create two wooden plugs that fitted back into the holes; quick sand and stain/wax once in place and the join is visible but not exactly obtrusive.

I’ve done exactly as you suggest, large piece of oak, not as thick as a sleeper, but heavy- about 7 feet long, 6 inches deep and 4-5 inches thick. Drilled 2 holes in wood horizontally, used that to guide 2 long holes into chimney breast, then fixed the threaded rod (8 or 10mm I think)into wall with epoxy and bolted mantleshelf on. Plugged holes with some walnut floor offcuts I got from timber guy. Two points- 1. Measure twice cut once! I drilled holes in shelf asymmetrically and had to make 2 dummy holes to even it up :(, looks OK but annoys me that only 2 were unnecessary. 2. Check where fireplace lintel is, I had measured it when fireplace enlarged, so new I could drill to outisde of concrete lintel.

(KNEW) I could drill, may not be an issue if sandstone lintel?

To fix our mantel shelf to the wall I welded a woodscrew to a piece of threaded rod. Screwed the woodscrew into the shelf and drilled through the chimney breast and bolted it up.

Similar to TRs solution really but without the epoxy.

get a small section of rail track and create some brackets with them

while I like that idea, it may not be the most practical for someone with my skillset.

The key hole brackets are called mirror plates. Get good ones, the Chinese ones are simply crap. I hung our cedar mantles on the wall that way, it works fine and you can just lift them off for decorating. Be sure to recess the plates in the back of the timber.