garage on-wall cabinets

**skamath** · 07-04-2010, 06:31 PM

btw, thanks in advance!

**cabinetman** · 07-04-2010, 07:08 PM

Your concern is normal, but I'm not familiar with any chart that would specify the maximum (shear) loads studs will take. It may depend on metal or wood, and where on the wall in height the weight is hung. Cabinet weight is dispersed over an area.

Base cabinets usually sit on the floor, (unless wall hung). I've hung quite a bit of weight off stud walls with no problems.
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**chopnhack** · 07-04-2010, 07:59 PM

You could pick up some of the weight of the upper cabs by putting a 2x8 across the trusses in the attic and then lagging or using threaded rod into it. You would have to put another piece of board inside the cabinet where you would attach to spread the weight. Same for lowers, you could put a post down in a few locations. This of course is if you have access to the attic

**LCHIEN** · 07-04-2010, 08:04 PM

wood is strongest in compression as your studs would be.
Hanging them from the rafters still puts the laod all on the studs, but if you use a 2x8 strung across several rafters then you transfer some of the load to adjoining studs.

**BobSch** · 07-04-2010, 08:06 PM

Originally posted by chopnhack

You could pick up some of the weight of the upper cabs by putting a 2x8 across the trusses in the attic and then lagging or using threaded rod into it. You would have to put another piece of board inside the cabinet where you would attach to spread the weight. Same for lowers, you could put a post down in a few locations. This of course is if you have access to the attic

Be careful doing that. Some pre-made roof trusses aren't designed to support much weight.

**chopnhack** · 07-04-2010, 08:23 PM

This is true, Bob. I mention it because the bottom chords are typically strong enough to support at least a 200 lb man walking across them, being that is a point load on one lower truss chord, spreading the weight over a large area, within reason should be ok. The OP posted that the length was 20' and I doubt that his upper cabs will carry more than 30lb/ft. At 30lb/ft, total of 600 lbs divided over roughly 10 trusses, 60lb truss, and that is assuming that all the weight would be p/u by the truss, which it will not as the studs will bear the majority of the weight. Not snipping at you, just saying

**knotley** · 07-04-2010, 09:51 PM

Originally posted by skamath

i am starting a big project putting 3/4" melamine particle board cabinets on a entire wall of my attached garage. this is all together about 16 4x8 sheets of particle board.

the entire wall covers about 8' height to all together 20' of width. this is interior wall adjoins the house.

the question is if this is too much on one wall? is there some rule of thumb estimate on how much load should be put on one stud. i tried searching the web but the hits are mostly related to mounting the cabinets securely on the wall.

the cabinets are mostly 16" deep but few 20" (bottom cabinets) and one 24" (floor to ceiling)

Some ideas here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3

**aggrex** · 07-04-2010, 09:56 PM

I think its wise that you are concerned about the load on the wall studs. IMO 3/4" melamine particle board can make decent base cabinets but they can be pretty heavy as wall cabinets even when empty especially 16" deep. Wedge brackets (french cleat) and sturdy bolts may be necessary for a safe+solid mounting

**woodturner** · 07-05-2010, 07:58 AM

Originally posted by chopnhack

I mention it because the bottom chords are typically strong enough to support at least a 200 lb man walking across them

Trusses used in tract homes and, more significantly, garages, are often designed for zero load on the chords. A short term load of a 200 lb person walking on the chords to work in the attic will not cause immediate failure, even if the chords are designed for zero load.

To respond to the OP's question, I would be more concerned about the weight of the cabinet bowing or rotating the wall. The most likely failure mode is fastener failure - either the cabinet pulls off the wall, or the fasteners connecting the wall to the ceiling fail, allowing the wall to rotate down.

Shelves or cabinets supported on the floor are a far safer solution, in most cases.

**JimD** · 07-05-2010, 09:26 AM

I would prefer to support at least the base cabinets on the floor for a couple reasons I will mention but hanging them from the wall should not be any structural issue. The reason I suggest there is no issue is that walls are supposed to support the combination of live and dead load of the floor which is much more. On the main floor of the house, the live load is usually 40 lbs per square foot. So if you have a 12 foot wide room, each foot of wall supports 6 square feet at 40 lbs per square foot = 240 lbs. If the wall is 10 feet long its 2400 lbs. The cabinets would be in addition but garage walls usually support bedrooms, not the main living floor so that is less weight, probably by enough to cover the cabinets and their contents.

The reasons I would want to support off the floor are more mechical robustness and to eliminate a trap for debris. If you suspend the base cabinets from the wall, there will be a space below them that will tend to fill with dust and junk. I would prefer to rip 2x pressure treated to the angle of the floor (garage floors taper to the outside so water runs out) and screw the base cabinets to it. That is stronger and eliminates the cavity for things to collect. Use PT when you touch concrete.

Jim

**woodturner** · 07-05-2010, 10:59 AM

Originally posted by JimD

The reason I suggest there is no issue is that walls are supposed to support the combination of live and dead load of the floor which is much more. On the main floor of the house, the live load is usually 40 lbs per square foot.

The OP wants to put the cabinets in the garage - so there is no floor above. In addition, the 60 psf design load for living areas includes the dead load of the building materials as well as the 40 psf live load for people and furniture. It may sound like a lot, but it is really not. When you consider a woman in high heals is potentially putting a point load of hundreds to thousands of psf on the floor, it's clear that 40 psf is not a lot.

The ceiling structure is likely designed only to handle the required roof load in the OP's area, so we can't count on the ceiling structure to safely provide additional support.

**cabinetman** · 07-05-2010, 02:22 PM

Originally posted by JimD

I would prefer to support at least the base cabinets on the floor for a couple reasons I will mention but hanging them from the wall should not be any structural issue.

Jim

It's usually never an issue in residential installation of cabinetry. There are too many variables in the parameters of wall construction to determine minimum and maximum loads that can be installed to a wall. I've never seen or been provided computations from a structural engineer needed to install storage cabinets in a garage.

I'm also not aware of any wall or structural failures caused by the installation and use of storage cabinets in a garage. If there is doubt to the integrity of the structure, a simple method would be to install the base cabinets on the floor, use a full backsplash from the countertop to the underside of the upper (wall) cabinets, and install the wall cabinet to the studs.

By doing that, the majority of the weight would be shear (supported by the base cabinet and backsplash), and the wall cabinet would be screwed to the studs which for the most part would be keeping the cabinets from tipping forward.
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**skamath** · 07-05-2010, 09:19 PM

guys,
thanks a bunch for the replies.

here are images of the plan. i have the left section and right section. left section starts with the left wall and right section ends with the right wall. in between is the entry door to the house.

i have regular california tract home, 2x4 studs 16'' apart.

**skamath** · 12-30-2010, 04:41 AM

here's an in progress pic.

i have the following issues that i need clarification for. appreciate any comments. thanks.

some details:
i am using 3/4" melamine particle board. my joinery is using rabbet, glue and screws. back is 1/4" board with 4" wide particle-board nail board, top and bottom for screwing into the studs.

questions:
. after i installed a row of cabinets i noticed that both the (garage) floor and ceiling is off level 1/4" over about 112" of length. i made sure that the cabinets were level (at least using my stabila 48" level) but now if you really stare you can see that the cabinets are slightly tilted. to fix this i was planning on recutting (to slant in the other direction) the bottoms/tops of the doors to avoid the impression. also i am putting pegboard in the center. i can slant it slightly in the other direction, etc., as well. any other ideas or suggestions on how to deal with this. what do the professionals do?

. also when i installed the cabinets i made sure they were level front to back, but now i see it is off about 1/16" down (at front) over the 16" inches of the cabinet depth. it looks like the cabinets weren't sturdy enough to stay square given the weight? is this normal? should i have installed the cabinet a little off the other direction to negate this downward slant?

. i am using 4, 3" coarse cabinet mounting screws per (32" wide) cabinet. each of the cabinet is installed on 2 studs, 2 screws per, one top and one bottom. is that enough? should i double the number of screws? i think not but thought i'd check.

thanks again!

Attached Files

garage on-wall cabinets

garage on-wall cabinets

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