Mounting bathroom cabinet to shallow cavity wall nightmare

[noexpertbutwilling]

We have a small (40cm x 40cm) solid oak (so quite heavy, one person can hold in position, but not for long) bathroom cabinet that is resisting attempts to get it on our wall.

I marked out 4 holes in a 30cm square and proceeded to try to fit some self-tapping plastic cavity wall fittings. My plan was to do that, then mark exactly where the centres really were on a paper template and then drill holes in the rear of the cabinet so I could screw it up.

Problem is, it turns out there isn't enough of a 'cavity' before hitting the masonry wall behind I tried cutting the plastic fittings down a bit, but then the problem is that the screws are too long even allowing for the thickness of the back of the cabinet.

On measuring, it seems I have, at best, 27mm from the front face of the dry wall to the front face of the masonry, so no real surprise that the pointy bit of the fixing was hitting the masonry before fully engaging.

About the only thing I can think of is to try to drill through the dry wall, air gap AND masonry, poke a rawlplug right in on the end of a thin screwdriver and then use the masonry for the fixing rather than the dry-wall.

Is that likely to work? Is there a better way? Or am I going to have to give up fixing anything to this wretched wall.

Help appreciated!

Roger

 

[footprints]

About the only thing I can think of is to try to drill through the dry wall, air gap AND masonry, poke a rawlplug right in on the end of a thin screwdriver and then use the masonry for the fixing rather than the dry-wall.



Roger

As Mr Punch would say "That's the way to do it". Hold in place drill through the holes in the cabinet to line up then drill into the wall. Unfortunatly you can't check the masonary for wire or pipes that deep with a tester so just use common sense and see if any sockets taps etc in line with the holes, chances are though they will run in the cavity not the wall.

 

[phatboy]

I would get someone to hold the cabinet in position, and drill straight through the back of the cabinet, plasterboard and into the block work.

Push a rawl plug into the hole in the cabinet till its flush, put a nice long screw (70mm x 5mm) gently into it, and hammer it through, and into the masonry. Tighten it up but not too much.

This fixing will now take the weight of the unit, so get a spirit level on the cabinet and get your assistant to level it up perfectly. Drill another hole right through, and repeat the process. The cabinet can now be perfectly levelled up, and the 2 screws done tight.

Repeat for the 2 remaining screws, and job done!

 

[slippyr4]

FYI, sounds like you have what is called "dot and dab" - where, on your external walls, the plasterboard is stuck on with several "blobs" of plasterboard adhesive. This results in an air gap of maybe 20mm or so.

Just occasioanlly you;ll drill and find no gap at all- that's when you're "lucky" enough to drill into one of the dabs.

Usually the best way of dealing with fixing to a wall like this is to go in with an undersized drill bit then poke around to identify whats there in terms of air gap, or dab, or whatever, and choose a fixing apppropriately.

 

[bernardgreen]

With screws into the brick work you can over tighten them and the cabinet presses hard enough on the plaster board to crack it.

Cut holes in the plaster board to take wooden spacers through which the fixing screws goes. Make the spacers thick enough to be slightly proud of the surface of the plaster so that no matter how tight the fixing screw are made there is no pressure on the plaster.

 

[loply]

If you're confident this is relatively permanent you could cut a section of plasterboard out to afix a wooden batten to the brickwork, which you can then screw your cabinet to. Plus any subsequent cabinets. Provided you don't move the sink