I’m constructing a wall-mounted birch plywood tool cabinet with sliding doors that is going to share a wall with a melamine wall-mounted shop cabinet above it, and I was wondering will that be too much load for the wall studs once the tools are added?
The wall-mounted cabinet is currently lag bolted across 4 studs on the wall, and the cabinet I am building will be attached across 3 of the same studs at 2 separate locations using screws and cleats (similar attach method as the tool cabinet recently shown in the December issue of FWW). Are there any concerns for these 2 cabinets sharing the same wall?
Thanks for the feedback,
Brian
Replies
I would not really worry about the wall studs handling the load. You would be surprised as to what kind of loads that they are capable of handling. As a safety measure you could run a cleat underneath the cabinet, making sure that you capture both sides of the cabinet. Are you lagging thru the back only? As a trim carpenter who has hung many cabinets I have seen failures on the back to side failures where the cabinet is tightly screwed to the stud but that there is so much weight in the cabinet that the sides actually pulled off the back. I have seen this in cabinets usually over 40" wide. If the tools are mounted only to the back side as in hooks then there should be no problem, if using shelves then the sides also will be bearing the weight. Therefore you can lag the back of the cabinet all you want, but if the back to side is only glued then that would be a cause of concern. I hope this helps.
mark
Thanks for the feedback; the case is made of 3/4 birch ply that is rabbited, glued, and screwed together on the sides. The cabinet is to be hung on a wall between two countertops so I wouldn't be able to attach the sides of the cabinet to the wall. I was planning to use beveled cleats on the bottom and the top of the backside to mate against cleats screwed onto the wall. Will that be enough to secure it?
By your description, you could hang your cabinet saw AND jointer in there, along with your hand tools, and it won't go anywhere. Hang away. As previously stated, make sure you mount your "french cleat" (beveled board) to the rear of the sides of the cabinet, as well as the center board. It'll tie them all in together, structurally.
Jeff
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