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Fixing cabinet to the wall


Danni
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Hi All

i am in the process of applying for my FAC and my new cabinet arrived today (BSA 8 gun deep cabinet). 

Im hoping to fix it to the wall in my storage room at the weekend. However, I can’t tell whether the wall is brick behind the plasterboard. It definitely doesn’t sound as hollow as a stud wall so I’m hoping it’s brick, then plasterboard. 

I live in a flat at the moment so I don’t really fancy making too many holes in the wall (as long as I fill them when I leave and paint, I should be fine, apparently). 

So my question is, to be safer with the FAO inspection, shall I just drill and bolt all six holes of the cab with longer than normal rawl plugs? Or shall I go further than this and resin the holes before plugging?

thanks

Dan

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Hi, is the wall that you are wanting to fasten it to an external or internal wall?  Are there any sockets on that wall that you could remove and have a look behind the back box to see what the wall construction is?  That will help determine what type of fixing.  

Depending on how long you plan living there you could always just get a skim over by a plasterer when you decide to leave.  In my current property I drew around the cabinet where I wanted it/suitable position, then used an angle grinder and 1mm cutting disc to cut out the plasterboard.  There was about a 10mm gap and the cabinet sat in there.

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Thanks for your replies. 

So the wall I want to fix it is at the front of my flat where the stairwell is. So whilst exterior to my flat, it’s internal in the building. The bricks aren’t like your exterior crumbly style of bricks (clearly not a builder lol!)

all plugs etc are trunked and not recessed into the walls unfortunately so it’s a difficult one there  

i think I’m going to have to make an exploratory hole before I go further

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Rob525 said:

You can use standard side plugs if ypu like. Put the plug in the hole till its flush with the wall them put a long screw into the plug one turn with your fingers and tap with a hammer so the plug is in the masonary not the board

Use coach screws with a hex head if doing this.

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Be careful,

I put a safe into a city centre flat when in Glasgow to an outside wall inside a built in wardrobe. After the plasterboard it was 50mm of polystyrene insulation I had to get some 60mm spacers and washers to build up and get the raw bolts to tighten down solid instead of just squashing against the insulation. Just bear that in mind? You could drill an exploratory hole with a small drill and see what you hit before you commit to the location for your cabinet?

Good luck

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Thanks English, that’s kinda what I’m expecting. Although this won’t be going into an external wall of the building, just of my flat. Looking on Travis Perkins they look to just be standard engineering blocks (smooth and darkish red colour), but they are inside the building. 

There aren’t any other places it can go that aren’t stud wall, or where the Mrs will allow so I’ll have to make this work somehow. 

I found some rawl bolts that have a long thread on them so I may have to go down that route but use a ton of chemical/resin fix to get it as solid as possible.  

Will post back how it goes. It’s a massive cab which I had to lump up two flights of stairs earlier so it needs to be bolted down as if I’m never moving out lol. 

 

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OK, so if the wall is how I'm hoping it is, I think im going to go down the chemical anchor / threaded bar route.

I'll probably look to drill out all 6 holes and put an M12 rod in there.

Is there a particular chemical anchor that is good for this kind of stuff? The cabinet is 80kg so whilst it'll be sitting on the floor, it'll need to take the FAO's weight, plus force of the cab when he tries to swing on it. 

I'm not a home DIY'er by any means, as I'm sure you've guessed by now. Not long moved out of my parents house and all I've ever had to do so far is hang a curtain rail up! I am very good with car mechanics though.

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I fixed mine with conctete screws. No messy resin. 

Drill 6mm hole drive in a concrete screw. You can get these in lots of different lengths. 

Resin is good but the hole really needs clearing of dust as the resin will just stick to the dust and not the block.

My feo just looked at the cabinet and said 'it'll do'. no swinging on the door or trying to wrench it off the wall.

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I used 6 (drilling two new fixings in the middle) of these https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-rawlbolts-m10-x-75mm-5-pack/20828 but mine is on a brick built wall with no cavity.

I also didn't cut the skirting but built a wooden plinth to stand it on and fix it to.

If the wall has a cavity then the chem fix and stud route with spacers to fill the cavity gap would be your best option.

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1 hour ago, haynes said:

My feo just looked at the cabinet and said 'it'll do'. no swinging on the door or trying to wrench it off the wall.

To clarify, he only swing in the door because I told him it was strong enough, I doubt he wouldn't have if I hadn't mentioned it 

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1 hour ago, Scully said:

I can’t believe people go to this length for a cabinet! All it needs is to able to prevent anyone getting a jemmy in to prise it off the wall, that’s all. Reasonable precautions, anything else simply isn’t necessary. 

Agreed

 

I use these https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-rawlbolts-m12-x-140mm-5-pack/57310 Feo came to inspect, gave the cabinet a nudge and push and said ''thats fine". Mines fixed to a single skin internal masonry wall (100mm dense block being an old council property)

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10 minutes ago, Jay1234 said:

May have been a wasted exercise but he wasn't completely happy as the safe is 3/4 of an inch off of the wall as Well as 4 inches off the floor, if letting him swing off the door makes him happy then so be it 

Eh ? Whys that then ?
The idea is they cant get anything behind it to jimmy off the wall, or, as Im told, use a jack to push it upwards.
Thats why Im always told to put sealer in the gaps /joins.
If you dont want to mess about with the skirting, some wood blocks under the cabinet, and then screwed into from inside.

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2 hours ago, Newbie to this said:

If the wall has a cavity then the chem fix and stud route with spacers to fill the cavity gap would be your best option.

What do you mean by spacers for the cavity? I can imagine how that'd look. Sorry if that's a bit dim

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15 minutes ago, Newbie to this said:

A spacer cut to size so that it goes over the stud and takes up the gap so it touches the wall and the back of the cabinet, in other words something like conduit that touches the wall and sits flush with the plaster board.

This would still leave a gap between the cabinet and the wall for someone to get a pry bar in. If this method is to allow for the  skirting then raising the cabinet above the skirting on a timber box or bricks would mean you could get direct contact between the cabinet and wall. The cabinet should have holes in the bottom so if a timber box is used you could screw down into that to avoid the box being removed, saying that an 80KG safe sat on top i dont think anything under it will move.

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When I was renting, I used 10mm rod and chemfix anchor to attach my cabinet to the outside wall (crappy new build with block inner, brick outer). When we left, I just had to grind the bolts off, skim over with filler and repaint, and the landlord was none the wiser (he was a bit curious as to what had burned the carpet below it though, which may have been one of the bits of bar falling off after grinding it off...)

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18 minutes ago, Jbob said:

This would still leave a gap between the cabinet and the wall for someone to get a pry bar in. If this method is to allow for the  skirting then raising the cabinet above the skirting on a timber box or bricks would mean you could get direct contact between the cabinet and wall. The cabinet should have holes in the bottom so if a timber box is used you could screw down into that to avoid the box being removed, saying that an 80KG safe sat on top i dont think anything under it will move.

I'm talking about if there is a cavity inbetween the brick/block and the plaster board not about standing off the wall because of the skirting. In one my previous posts it states that mine is sitting on a wooden plinth because I didn't want to cut the skirting.

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