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Thread: Fixing a desk to a brick wall
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18th February 2014, 10:17 PM #1New Member
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Fixing a desk to a brick wall
Hello, I'm new to the forum. I've often browsed the forums as a guest, but the stakes feel particularly high for my current project and so I wanted to ask some specific questions, rather than try to find relevant threads from the past. I hope this is in the right sub-forum (Mod, happy to take your advice on this).
I have a benchtop 2460mm long and 600mm deep that I'm wanting to fix to a ledger board at rear, with three screw in legs on the front. The benchtop itself weighs 36kg and I'm terrified someone (at some point, perhaps long after I've moved on) will climb up on it to change a light bulb or something. As such, I really want to make sure it's as secure as possible.
The load for the screw in legs is 75kg per leg. I'm hoping it won't bow with just three legs, but I have a spare leg (!) in case I need to prop it up in the future.
I'd greatly appreciate people's advice on:
The height of the ledger board
What fixings to use to attach the ledger board to my brick wall and the spacing for these
What size L brackets to use to fix the benchtop to the ledger board.
Any other tips or general advice will also be most welcome!
Thanks in anticipation.
Elizabeth
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18th February 2014 10:17 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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22nd February 2014, 07:11 PM #2... and this too shall pass away ...
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Elizabeth,
The size of the ledger board is not super-critical. If you use a small section (say, 50 mm X 25 mm) you will need more fastenings at closer intervals. If you used a bigger section (say 100 X 50 mm) fewer fasteners will be required. Generally this is a "how will it look" issue.
The ledger can easily be fastened to the brick wall with masonry anchors (use at least 8 mm anchors). These work very well, but can be problematic if you have extruded or hollow bricks. Do you know what type of bricks you have (solid or extruded)? In either event, If you go to your local hardware place they should be able to give you what you need. I would choose those that have a screw head over those that have a nut and exposed thread ... purely for looks.
It's tough to give advice without knowing what tools/skills you have, so I'll start by indicating what I would likely do. My inclination would be to put a skirt around the bench top ... like a table that has been cut in half. You could still use your screw in legs. The reasoning is that this is stronger (top won't bow) and the skirt hides the ledger.
However, whether you want to do that or not ... Here is one idea for the ledger, there are many others.
Elizabeth Benchtop.jpg
This effectively gives you about 70-75 mm depth of timber under the bench top. Masonry anchors at about 400 - 500 mm spacing should be fine. If you have hollow bricks, you might consider putting the anchors into the mortar joints. I generally put a couple of beads of construction adhesive on the back of the ledger before fastening it ... to be sure ... to be sure. If you do all of that, you and your family should be able to dance on the darned thing.
Have fun!
John
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22nd February 2014, 10:39 PM #3.
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Because your bench top weighs 36 kg it does't really need to fixed down so the following is another possibility.
A length of Al angle - it can be quite light - even something like 1mm thick will do, is screwed to the underside of the bench as shown in the picture.
The Al angle does not need to be full length even two short pieces - one at each end of the bench will be sufficient
Then a cleat with a suitably sized rebate is screwed to the wall and the downward hanging Al angle fits inside the rebate.
The advantage of this is that the bench can easily be moved if needed but it will be heavy enough that it should not rattle against the wall
If the bench does rattle it can be packed out with some felt or even paper.
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10th April 2014, 07:51 PM #4New Member
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Thank you!!
Hi John & Bob, thank you both so much for your suggestions and your time, AND my sincere apologies for not thanking you sooner. I felt despondent because nobody had answered after a three days and gave up checking, fearing my post had been missed in the flurry of other, more exciting projects. I now know not to be so impatient!
I'll consider both of your suggestions and (for the benefit of future readers) report back when I've done the job.
Best wishes
e.
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15th April 2014, 01:09 PM #5