Dear Experts,
I'm planning to fit a largish desk top in an alcove, resting on timbers fixed to the wall at the back and the two sides. One side is plaster over brick, the other side is plasterboard attached to studwork over a solid stone wall, and the back is a partition wall with just plasterboard over studwork.
The desk, and whatever is put on it, could be quite heavy. I think that I can secure the supporting timbers firmly to the walls with suitable anchors, but do I have to worry that the plasterboard itself would eventually give way? Is there a rule-of-thumb for how much weight I can hang from a wall in this way?
Presumably it would be better to screw through the plasterboard into the studwork - but when I've done this, I've worried that my screws might not have hit the middle of the stud and could be weaker than a plasterboard anchor. Any thoughts?
I'm planning to fit a largish desk top in an alcove, resting on timbers fixed to the wall at the back and the two sides. One side is plaster over brick, the other side is plasterboard attached to studwork over a solid stone wall, and the back is a partition wall with just plasterboard over studwork.
The desk, and whatever is put on it, could be quite heavy. I think that I can secure the supporting timbers firmly to the walls with suitable anchors, but do I have to worry that the plasterboard itself would eventually give way? Is there a rule-of-thumb for how much weight I can hang from a wall in this way?
Presumably it would be better to screw through the plasterboard into the studwork - but when I've done this, I've worried that my screws might not have hit the middle of the stud and could be weaker than a plasterboard anchor. Any thoughts?