I have a couple cheap cabinets that came with the house that I want to hang in the shop on French cleats. I will store various tools, but nothing with motors-ratchet set, drill bits, biscuits, doweling jig, Leigh dovetail jig, stud finder, etc, etc. you get the idea. I think I will mount a cleat at the top and bottom of the cabinets. Here are my questions:
1. Is plywood acceptable or should it be hardwood?
2. How wide should the halves of the cleats be?
3. What angle are the cleats normally cut at? 45*?
Plywood is acceptable; cut the 45degree on a 4" board then cut the cleats to length for the cabinets; the mentioned screws are adequate into studs; and maybe a good coat of paint
1. Is plywood acceptable or should it be hardwood?
I think a decent grade of plywood would be fine. If it were me, I'd use hardwood or even construction grade softwood to avoid worries (probably unfounded) about plywood delaminating over time.
2. How wide should the halves of the cleats be?
3" for each half should be plenty. I'd rip a 1X6 in half at a 45 degree angle to get both pieces.
3. What angle are the cleats normally cut at? 45*?
Any angle will work. Recommend 45* so you won't have trouble duplicating (remembering) the angle later if you want to add additional or change cabinets.
4. Are #8 x 2.5" screws sufficient? If you're going through a 3/4" cleat and 1/2 - 5/8" sheetrock, you'll have just a little over 1" of screw in the stud. I'd use 3" screws for a little extra comfort margin.
5. Any other considerations?
I don't think French cleats on the top AND bottom is a great idea. Getting the cleat to seat fully is a no brainer with a single cleat on the top only, but nor so easy when you have two sets. I suggest screwing a plain stringer to the wall at the bottom of the cabinet. Hang the cabinet from the French cleat at the top and run a couple of screws through the back of the cabinet into the stringer at the bottom.
My $.02. Others will probably have different ideas.
No cleat on the bottom, just a flat spacer if needed. Put a single screw through the bottom if you are worried about it ever getting bumped and raised off the top cleat. I'd use 1 1/2" on each piece of the cleat if you get screws into at least 2 studs. 3" screws into the wall for me.
I make my cleats from 3/4 plywood cut at a 45 degree angle. If you make the cleat around an inch shorter than the width of the cabinet and then center your cleat you can adjust the cabinet side to side a bit to get it centered. This is very helpful when butting two together.
1. Is plywood acceptable or should it be hardwood?
I agree with Hank, but as he stated I would use a hardwood.
2. How wide should the halves of the cleats be?
3. What angle are the cleats normally cut at? 45*?
I used about 3" ~ 4" oak cleats cut at 45 deg.. I have some 36" wide cabinets with estimated 500+ lbs load in my shop. I built my cabinets with 3/4 plywood, and I recessed the back of the cabinets 3/4", glued and screwed the cleat to the cabinet, and attached the cleat to my 2X6 stud with 1/4" X 3 1/2" hardened screws. I did cut the "wall" cleat a couple of inches short so I could position them after hanging.
4. Are #8 x 2.5" screws sufficient?
As I stated above, I used longer and heavier screws. If you (or someone else) later decides to store heavier items in the cabinet you would still be safe.
5. Any other considerations?
After I hung my cabinets I drove a couple of screws through the lower back of the cabinets into the studs to keep them seated and properly located. I didn't install any board at the bottom at all, in fact there is a 3/4" gap between the cabinet back and the wall, but these screws are not bearing any weight, I have had no issues in 10 years and as I stated some of my cabinets are absolutely loaded with air tools and power tools. I am sure I have several hundred pounds in many of them.
4. Are #8 x 2.5" screws sufficient? If you're going through a 3/4" cleat and 1/2 - 5/8" sheetrock, you'll have just a little over 1" of screw in the stud. I'd use 3" screws for a little extra comfort margin.
5. Any other considerations?
I don't think French cleats on the top AND bottom is a great idea. Getting the cleat to seat fully is a no brainer with a single cleat on the top only, but nor so easy when you have two sets. I suggest screwing a plain stringer to the wall at the bottom of the cabinet. Hang the cabinet from the French cleat at the top and run a couple of screws through the back of the cabinet into the stringer at the bottom.
My $.02. Others will probably have different ideas.
My thanks to everyone for the education. There are some great suggestions for improvements to my thoughts. I feel much more comfortable now. Nevertheless, I will not load hundreds of pounds of tools into these cabinets because they would fall apart first.
If you recess the back of the cabinet by the thickness of the cleat, you can hang the cabinet flush to the wall. On the other points, I wouldn't hesitate to use plywood or hardwood, but I always try to err on the safe side with screws. In this case, I wouldn't use #8 screws. No reason not to use a #10 or #12.
Wondering if there is a way to use two pair of French cleats with good alignment.
Install the upper French cleat pair on the wall and cabinet. Screw the lower part of the lower pair to the wall. Place the upper part of the lower pair against the wall and against the lower part of the pair. Hang the cabinet using the upper pair and drive screws through the cabinet back into the upper part of the lower pair.
If there is a real concern about the ability of one cleat to support the weight of the cabinet and contents then, once the cabinet is hanging on the upper cleat, put a couple screws thru the cabinet bottom into the wall studs...like would be done in a "non cleat" installation.
If the cleat is mounted with properly sized (not #8) screws it will be fine.
I installed some book shelves this summer using French Cleats. I second the ideas of 1) hardened screws, and 2) using #10 or 12 screws holding the cleat to the wall.
Someone posted when I asked about it that the 45 degree rip could create a wedging pressure between the pieces. I used 30 degrees, just in case.
I had a 9" piece of plywood, so I ripped it in half for the cleats at the top. This was wide enough to allow for two screws into each stud (my project was 9' long) for the part attached to the wall.
For an installation technique, I laid the book cases face down on the work bench, and placed the lower stringer at the bottom and both mating cleat pieces at the top) in position on the back of the case work. I then made a pair of spacers -- narrow scraps of plywood -- to fit between the stringer and cleat. Then, at an easier working height, I installed the lower stringer on the wall, nice and level. The spacers made it a snap then, to install the cleat above that -- level and parallel.
One other point: on a smaller project a few years ago, I attached the lower stringer (as a spacer only) to the back of the book shelves and just hung the unit on the cleat at the top. (Screwed into the cleat, of course. But on a larger project, if you attach the lower stringer to the studs, you can screw the lower end of the shelves or cabinet to the stringer and spread the load a bit.
A couple replies mentioned recessing the cleat so the cabinet can sit against the wall. If you do that, keep the stud locations marked so you can put a few extra screws through the cabinet back and into the studs. (With a lower stringer, you can screw into that stringer and have more freedom to put the screws near the corners or in otherwise less conspicuous locations.) The immediate project is a shop project, but next time ...
As long as everybody's throwing out ideas, here's one. Recess the cleat on the cabinet so it hangs flush against the wall. Leave the back off the cabinet so whatever you have for a wall becomes the back of the cabinet. I had a pegboard wall and needed some shelf space, so I built backless cabinets and hung them on french cleats (the top firring strip the pegboard is attached is a french cleat). Here's the result:
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