DIY advice - mounting a vanity cabinet

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

[FnG]magnolia

Caporegime
Joined
29 Aug 2007
Posts
28,712
Location
Auckland
Hi, need some advice from someone who knows what they're doing. We've bought a vanity cabinet for the bathroom and against all the odds I managed to put it up without it being squint. It's not particularly light and I'm concerned by the fact that it's only being held up by two screws/rawlplugs. I've lined it up with the horizontal wooden stud but (1) I'm not sure it's reached the stud (gap between wall and stud) and (2) whether it should actually go into the stud or not.

My other question is what can I do to help with the weight? I'm thinking some kind of bracket at the bottom of the unit. Is there a better solution?

As a side note, I am not doing anymore DIY ever again. I'm going to pay a little man from the village to come and make everything better.
 
just do what i do. say to yourself 'that'll do' and walk away with with gritted teeth.

if you hear a bang in the middle of the night a week or so later and the wife shouts 'we're being robbed' just reply, 'go back to sleep dear, it's the vanity unit i installed. i'll ring a carpenter tomorrow'. if this doesn't happen, you've saved yourself a labour fee.
 
If you are really worried get some book shelf holdy upper things for floating book shelves and put them underneath.

You could also not put anything in the cabinet to keep the weight down.

Final thought you could pay the little man in the village to come round and hold it up? Save ever having to pay him as whats he going to do with money when he's holding up your cabinet.
 
0h49o.jpg

These would be better than rawl plugs if its a dry lined wall. If you know where the stud is then you could get longer screws to reach that, as that would be the best option.
 
Yeah normal rawl plugs in a stud wall might cause you problems later on! :o Assuming it has a magnetic door or something on the front, the constant opening and closing might eventually cause some fatigue to the wall from having those rawl plugs there.
 
You could use a couple of small right angled brackets attached to either the sides or the bottom to help support the weight, I did something similar recently with a large mirror. Whatever you do, it's important to use the correct wall plugs. :)
 
Mark A said:
0h49o.jpg
Click to expand...

These are extremely sturdy little things. I attached a very heavy mirror to a plasterboard wall using only two of them and never worried about it falling off. They do tend to flake your plasterboard quite a bit when you screw them in, though. But that can be filled, sanded and painted or just hidden by the unit.

If you don't want to redo what you have already done you can just add a nice decorative bracket underneath the unit to take some of the weight.

Post a pic for bespoke advice?
 
Last edited:
Ok, the unit is 18kg which is actually less heavy than I thought it was but that is completely empty. I like the look of those metal fellows - what are they called?

I've left my camera at work but the bracket idea is also a good one. Thanks chaps, some good advice there.
 
No chance of No nails working well on a plasterboard wall, it'll just rip the surface paper off the wall with it.


Best way would be to "hang the cabinet" from a batten that is fixed at multiple points and hopefully crosses a stud at some point too.
If not, make sure to use the wide legged plasterboard fixings rather than the screw in ones above (better grip over a larger area for heavier loads)

vanityhang.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom