Shelving install problem

[Mickymoody]

Once bought a lovely glass designer shelf, with chrome fittings, to install above my bath, to contain shampoo, smellies and so on...

And was aware that the wall it was to be fitted to was a stud wall, so got the relevent fittings.

All goes to plan. Check it out with a level, fine and straight. Sturdy. All connections good and strong.

Put a small bottle on shelf, it tips 45 degrees, totally useless.

It's like some cruel joke from 'It's a Knockout', or 'Wipeout', or 'Beadles about', it worked fine on testing..

Maybe in hindsight, I should have found the studs, but they were the correct rawlplugs for screwing into plasterboard..?

Now I just hammer in screws, when installing anything, as nails either end up L shaped, or my thumb hurts.

Statistically, I think that I'm bound to nail into a water or electric main soon..and I have a coat hanger to install..(that I made in school many years ago)

 

[stuartturbo]

I acctually used them clip the hold a shelf up below my TV.
used the biggest screw that fitted nice and long to ensure they got good "bite"
But the clips actually opened up where they slide together causing the shelf to fail down causing minor damage to ubit below but failing PS3 did smash my laptop

I can provide a picture that shows the shelf in use to ensure it was as specified ( one of B&Q kits) Before PS3 was put on shelf at Christmas. PS3 wieghs 3.2kg Vplus weighs about the same. so well below the specified weight tolerance.
The correct screws where used. I used the the Grey Rawlplug 10mm size with a 50mm long screw 6mm ish in diameter to penetrate the plaster into the brickwork.
These where the countersunk type as due to the nature or the clamp no other fixing would be possible without the wooden shelf not locating in the clamp.
The wall was flat over that run of the shelf, Full replaster a few years ago. The replacement shelf has NO noticeable gap over a longer shelf.
If your client felt the clamps where not a fault why was i given a Gift card and a refund on the Item and informed "there was defiantly something wrong with the but we are not sure what, and to make a claim via yourselves"
Your Client is wrong it assumption that these where not fitted correctly, Something I will always do is over engineer the fixing to stop the fixing coming out use as big as possible.
When the shelf failed the fixing where still secure and not failed. In fact they are still in the wall hidden by the replacement shelf.
If your client inspected the fixings correctly They would be aware that a countersunk screw in a counter-bore will leave very little witness marks as the two angles match to provide the some force over a great surface area. If i had use any other fixing such as the bolt type the would be more damage to the mounting face. However with no markings in the holes prehaps i used magic and willpower to hold the shelf up????

It is of our client's engineer's view that the clips in question wouldn't be able to bend had they have been fitted correctly.

Untitled

• stuartturbo
• 22 Oct 2010
• 3

You can see the rear bend but not where they run???? the bootom piece "fell" free and the top was still fixed to the wall square??? and level

 

[Donkmeister]

Is the bottom part the one with the black rubbery part on?

Did the rawlplug come out slightly when the bracket buckled? I'm asking because from the photo it looks like the screw mounting hole would have moved away from the wall... or did the bottom part dig into the plaster?

Regardless of what their engineer is saying, it's a bit iffy to design a shelf bracket that (presuming the engineer has seen the photo) relies on being mounted against something rigid to maintain its shape.

I always thought the weak point of any cantilevered shelf such as that was the friction retaining the shelf in the bracket, not the bracket itself!

 

[stuartturbo]

the bottom is the rubber bit on.
As it bent it must have dug into the plaster.( but no marks on wallpaper) and the screw where spanner tight still.
I had nipped them up a couple of times but it was not till they failed and "standard" type shelf fitted i realised how far out they had become.
It appear that You could hold the shelf tight after the failure even with that bend. the lower clip had opened out allowing it the pull away from the fixed point

 

[Mickymoody]

That's not a sarcastic email Stuart, you should see some of the ones I have written, ouch!

On a similar vein, this wasn't strictly my fault, lying in bed one night, there is an almighty crash downstairs, I'm thinking the front door has been bust down, and we are being robbed. So I wanders downstairs, with nothing to protect me, cautiously pushing my girlfriend in front of me, making my way downstairs, to find that the kitchen cupboard has fallen off the wall, landed on top of the kettle and deep fat fryer, done a somersault, and smashed the contents all across the tiled floor.

So no glass vessel made it out alive, theres pickle, mixed with ketchup, with with syrup, salad cream, broken glass, as far as the eye can see.

Took weeks to get the floor clean, due to the congealment! But not my fault! Maybe overloading it...but I didn't fit it! I refitted the hanger, and touch wood, (you know whats going to happen now don't you?), it's still good.

Strangely, the same happened years ago when I still lived with my parents. But the cabinet didn't sumersault.

I just recalled another instance of bad hanging, while living with my parents, they had several budgies, and one liked to fly from it's cage, to the mirror hung above the fireplace, hook onto the frame, and kind of regurtitate it's food to it's reflection.

I liked to lie in front of the fireplace, watching TV on the big furry rug, so one day, budgie, flies over, I'm half dozing in front of the TV, hear a snap, crack, and like a coiled spring, do an SAS type rollover, in my parents living room, and this brass, star shaped '70's type mirror speared into the ground where I'd just been lying, then exploding the glass, like some type of bomb.

I don't know who was more shocked, me or the budgie, as he escaped a few days later.

The mirror was repaired , for some reason, and I eventually ended up with it, and it has stabbed me since, grabbing in a box of stuff, and the mirror was there. ouch!

 

[Donkmeister]

Maybe overloading it...

Lol! The number of times I've heard that one in the past, usually my dad explaining why something went wrong with the house!

"You're pushing too hard, that's why the wardrobe doors came off!" (turned out the wheels weren't seated into the rail)

"Why have you pulled the socket off the wall?!" (not his fault, the backbox from the previous owner's install had stripped threads on the lugs)

"The toilet's blocked again. Someone must be using too much toilet paper!" (previous owners had concreted over all the rodding points )

 

[Mickymoody]

I thought I had a little comedy in my post, but your beats mine..

"You're pushing too hard, that's why the wardrobe doors came off!"

"The toilet's blocked again. Someone must be using too much toilet paper!"

Wardrobe doors are blocking the toilet!