Strengthening a Metal Stud wall to hang a sink

Hi

I've started renovating my bathroom. My girlfriend would like to replace our pedestal wash basin with a wall hang one as she thinks it will look cleaner.

The wall is a metal stud wall with plasterboard covering. If it was wooden i would of had a go at nailing in some boards between the verticals to hang the sink on. I'm a bit stumped with what to do with a metal stud wall.

Additionally I would need to run the pipes horizontal within the stud wall to achieve the desired effect. I believe there are holes in the uprights that should accommodate 15mm copper pipes but am unsure about the 32mm basin waste. Could i drill the uprights to take the basin waste?

Here is a picture of another part of the bathroom wall to illustrate what the stud wall looks like.



Here is our current sink which shows the boxing she wants rid of. The pipes originate from the left of the picture and turn 90 degrees to supply the sink. I was planning to extend them into the wall before turning 90 degrees to approach the sink within the stud wall.


Cheers

OK I've looked into this some more and taken some measurements.

The tracks are 45mm in width and the studs sitting within them are 41mm. I'm assuming the studs are nailed to the tracks where they meet.

So to strengthen the wall I could install an additional stud, either wood or metal within the tracks and then hang some plywood on it within the studwall and then plasterboard on top.

Anyone got any experience with this scenario?

This would still leave the problem of running the basin waste within the wall. I would likely need to drill holes in the studs to accommodate the passage of the pipes. How safe is this? I don't believe it to be a load-bearing wall - just an internal partition wall to the best of my, admittedly, limited knowledge.

I would appreciate the benefit our your combined experiences.

Cheers

We have walls like this, Where it needs to be stiffened there is timber inside the stud.

basin may be OK, would not hang a toilet on one.

The big issue comes if anyone sits on the edge of the basin at any time in the future. . . .

You won't get the waste through the holes in the studs, even if it does fit it will.

Do you have enough room to put in an extra layer of studs on the wall? need protection from the edge of the metal.

IJWS15 said:

We have walls like this, Where it needs to be stiffened there is timber inside the stud.

basin may be OK, would not hang a toilet on one.

The big issue comes if anyone sits on the edge of the basin at any time in the future. . . .

You won't get the waste through the holes in the studs, even if it does fit it will.

Do you have enough room to put in an extra layer of studs on the wall? need protection from the edge of the metal.

Click to expand...

Hi

I phoned British Gypsum who say that the 41mm studs can not be drilled but that i can purchase a part known as a "99 fixing channel" which hangs horizontally between two studs. I can then hang the sink from the fixing channel.

Since I can't run the waste in the wall, we're probably going to purchase some kind of vanity unit with a sink on top.

I'm really not keen on building a false wall just to hide the pipes in.