Fitting Heavy Shelf to Plasterboard Wall - Advice Needed!

[Invisibabe]

Hi everyone,

I've bought an expensive shelf online from the U.S. and it's actually bulkier than I expected.

It's about 960mm long, weighs about 10kg, and the wall I'm looking to fit it to is a standard plasterboard one.

The shelf didn't come with fittings, just two holes, 760mm apart, they look like this -

Screw Hole

• Invisibabe
• 8 Feb 2015
• 1

Screw Hole

I'm a DIY beginner and so could do with some advice as to what sort of fittings I would need.

Going by the holes, I'd need screws with heads of a diameter of around 11mm in order to be properly secured into the holes.

They'd also presumably have to be quite long (the wall is about 90mm thick) to hold, and/or have a very strong fitting to go with them.

Does this sound about right? And if so, can anybody recommend what to buy and from where? I have had a quick look online but couldn't find anything online for plasterboard fittings that had screws with a diameter of more than 5mm.

Thanks in advance

 

[Norcon]

Silicone the rear side. No need for screws.
What ever time you want to remove it cut the plaster board round the circumference and plasterboard the lot will go with the shelf.

 

[foxhole]

Not suitable for plasterboard , even on a solid brick wall the fixings on the shelf are very poor, what you would expect though from a third world country like India, or the US.
With any weight on it the leverage created by those fixings will rip it off the wall.After crushing the plasterboard.

 

[Invisibabe]

A couple of differing bits of advice there from you guys.

Does anybody else have an opinion on my predicament?

 

[eggtastico]

what is the shelf made from?
Is it solid wood?

Could you bore holes into it & use floating shelf brackets?
You could use hollow wall anchor bolts to attach the shelf brackets.

 

[cjard]

Does this sound about right? And if so, can anybody recommend what to buy and from where? I have had a quick look online but couldn't find anything online for plasterboard fittings that had screws with a diameter of more than 5mm.

Are you sure that the 5mm wasn't in reference to the thickness of the spirally screw bit rather than the head? 5mm is pretty small for a screw head, certainly nothing you'd hold a plasterboard to a wall with

eggtastico is talking about one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SETTING-T...374?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aa0ace83e

which is used with any amount of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brolly-An...rial_Nails_Fixing_MJ&var=&hash=item5401c92dab

You drill the plasterboard, insert the bolt with the bolt head standing off the spiky metal collar by enough to get the end into the gun, then pump the gun. The gun pulls on the bolt, squashing and bending the metal legs into a splayed mushroom shape and the whole thing pinches the wall. Then you'd set the bolt head to the right distance that you can fit the shelf by lining the bolt head up with the big circle hole in the metal bracket on the shelf, push the shelf towards the wall and then pull it downwards to slide down the wall and into the slotted part of the fitting

These fittings on the back of the shelf aren't the most amazingly strong way of fitting a shelf - I presume this is one of those shelves that just looks like it's stuck to the wall with no shelf brackets under - fine for light loads but be aware that the leverage is massive compared to a self with brackets. If you load this shelf up with too much stuff (books etc) it will eventually rip a lovely hole in your wall. If you do plan to load it, fit shelf brackets. Or take the plasterboard out and replace it with fermacell. or mount the shelf into studwork. Or cut the wall open and fit some woodwork to mount the shelf to

 

[purplegerbil]

It might be possible to fix into the studs if they are timber. If its well built they will be at 400mm centres but most likely to be at 600mm and If they are modern metal you have not really got much hope. I would not try fixing it to plain plasterboard as it will not hold.

 

[ree]

The plates are keyhole plates and they will be spaced to fix to 400mm centred studs.

Find an appropriate screw with a head that fits the hole, and about 60mm to 75mm length.
Your plates appear to have round head screws, change them, if you want, to longer flat head screws.

Set the screws in the studs just tight, and drop the shelf onto them - force it down so the screw head goes up from the hole to lodge in the slot - no movement of the shelf should be possible.

Cabinet work has been done this way since the 18thC. "Secret fixings".

 

[foxhole]

The plates are keyhole plates and they will be spaced to fix to 400mm centred studs.

Find an appropriate screw with a head that fits the hole, and about 60mm to 75mm length.
Your plates appear to have round head screws, change them, if you want, to longer flat head screws.

Set the screws in the studs just tight, and drop the shelf onto them - force it down so the screw head goes up from the hole to lodge in the slot - no movement of the shelf should be possible.

Cabinet work has been done this way since the 18thC. "Secret fixings".

Don't think you read the post, 760mm spacing and no stud wall mentioned.

 

[ree]

"the wall ... is a standard plasterboard one" sounds very much like a stud wall?
Perhaps you would like to define a standard plaster board wall?

Sold in the USA virtually all fixings of this kind would be set for 400mm centres, unless its oddball stuff from Asia. Hence my suggestion.
By offering the shelf to a studded wall the OP might find that it "fits". DIY'ers have been known to confuse measurements.

The fixings cited by cjard are perfectly adequate for this shelf in that wall, or for even heavier fixtures.

AAMOI: i find it interesting that someone who offers advice on a woodwork forum doesnt know a keyhole plate when he see's one. Just saying.

 

[foxhole]

"the wall ... is a standard plasterboard one" sounds very much like a stud wall?
Perhaps you would like to define a standard plaster board wall?


Sold in the USA virtually all fixings of this kind would be set for 400mm centres, unless its oddball stuff from Asia. Hence my suggestion.
By offering the shelf to a studded wall the OP might find that it "fits". DIY'ers have been known to confuse measurements.

The fixings cited by cjard are perfectly adequate for this shelf in that wall, or for even heavier fixtures.

AAMOI: i find it interesting that someone who offers advice on a woodwork forum doesnt know a keyhole plate when he see's one. Just saying.

There is no such thing as a standard plasterboard wall.
Don't remember saying I don't recognise the fitting.?
If it's a dot and dab wall there will be little or no cavity for the suggested fixings.
You have to know what the problem is exactly before a solution can be specified.

 

[Dave54]

Just to say I agree with foxhole.
Those fixings are useless IMHO for a heavy cantilevered shelf like that. The pressure on the fixings and screws will be enormous!
Plates probably made of "cheese" and tiny screws holding them in too. To say nothing of the pressure on the screw into the wall.
Add a plasterboard wall to the equation and it's just waiting to fall off!
Only way I can see is by steel rods of some type drilled into the studwork, or the wall behind, and right into the shelf to fully support it while remaining hidden, and glued / screwed as appropriate.

 

[ree]

foxhole,

I have never heard anyone - DIY'er, householder or professional call a D&D wall a standard plaster board wall.
If a standard plaster board wall doesn't sound like the millions of studwall installations any and everywhere then, once again, what does the description standard plaster board wall suggest to you?

Perhaps, when you hear the description standard plaster board wall, you immediately think of a dot & dabbed wall? I dont know - do tell?

If you had recognised the key hole plates then why did you twice refer to them as fixings.
If you had known what they were you would have known how strong they are.

Your attempt at sarcasm falls flat, and you with it - sarcasm only works if it is actually referring to something.

 

[ree]

Dave54,

How do you know what the plates are made of?

If you had read my post you would have seen that i recommended the OP to change the plate screws for longer ones.

My advice implied screwing into studs.

I have seen and used such small keyhole plates to hold up wall various fixtures. They were fit for purpose.

 

[cjard]

If you had read my post you would have seen that i recommended the OP to change the plate screws for longer ones.

My advice implied screwing into studs.

Take things less personally - this is the internet