Fixing cabinets to tiled walls

[DrFfybes]

We've bought a couple of mirrored bathroom cabinets, and the walls we want to mount tem on are tiles over plasterboard so total thickness probably 20-22mm.

I'm trying to work out the best sort of fixings to use as the cabinets are about 15kg and hang on the 'kitchen cupboard' type of fixing bracket.

I've looked at hollow wall anchors but they have 'teeth' that grip the front face of the wall to stop them spinning when you tighten them, which won't work on tiles. https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-holl ... pack/11143

Also the toggle fixings seem to need a very large hole drilling - over 15mm so I need an expensive bit to cut the tiles and as each brackes has 2 screws at 32mm centres there is very little left between the 2 holes.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-spri ... pack/4257x

Anyone got any suggestions?

thanks

Paul

[staffordian]

Would conventional heavy duty plasterboard wall plugs not do the job?

Inserted far enough in so as to be flush with the front face of the plasterboard rather than the tiles to avoid the risk of cracking the tiles when the screws are inserted.

As far as I can see, this is the normal way of hanging kitchen wall units, so I'd have thought it would suffice for bathroom cabinets.

[bungeejumper]

Probably also sensible to mount some wooden support battens, somewhere out of sight, very much as you might with a kitchen wall cabinet. Spreading the load would reduce the risk of putting localised stresses on the tiles, which might result in them cracking or popping off.

Come to think of it, if the mounting battens were inside the top rear length of the cabinet, then the aesthetics and practicalities of fitting the cupboards onto the tiles would suddenly be of negligible importance?

If you see what I mean?

BJ

[staffordian]

Plugs like these seem well regarded...

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fischer-plas ... lsrc=aw.ds

[wilbobob]

I'd do my best to find the studs that the plasterboards are fixed to and screw a batten into them, then fix the cupboard supports to those. If its plasterboard dot and dabbed onto blockwork I'd use frame fixings long enough to get a firm grip into the blockwork and not overtighten the screws

[DrFfybes]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I hadn't thought of drilling the tiles wider then putting a narrow fixing into the plasterboard.

I have a 12mm drill bit and some of the Fischer plugs so could drill 10mm through then widen the hole in the tiles to 12mm and plug the wall.

The bathroom is L-shaped to you will see the edge of the cabinet so hanging it off a batten isn't ideal, and the pilot holes suggest no timber studs behind the mounting points, which takes me back to my idea a month or so ago of getting the long cabinet hanging rails and drilling every 30mm until I find a stud in the wall (which I'd be unlucky not to find in a 400mm wide cabinet). This at least gives one solid mount, and then use toggle clips at each end.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202325462817

or these are a bit longer than the normal ones Screwfix item 195gx

Paul

[MyNameIsUrl]

Anyone got any suggestions?

Probably not suitable in this situation because of the tiles, but you may be interested for future use: geefix.com

[bungeejumper]

which takes me back to my idea a month or so ago of getting the long cabinet hanging rails and drilling every 30mm until I find a stud in the wall (which I'd be unlucky not to find in a 400mm wide cabinet). This at least gives one solid mount, and then use toggle clips at each end.

There are "stud finders" which claim to be able to find such wooden things. Although tbh, I've never seen a stud that wasn't loaded with rows of nails that any £10 metal detector would have found.

BJ

[DrFfybes]

There are "stud finders" which claim to be able to find such wooden things. Although tbh, I've never seen a stud that wasn't loaded with rows of nails that any £10 metal detector would have found.

BJ

I've had a few of those over the years. Never found one any better for finding timber studs than "tapping along the wall and listening for the noise to change" and they weren't cheap.

The other issue is on one wall there is a shower on the other side, plumbed with flexible plastic pipework, which could be anywhere I'm seriously considering using my hole saw to make a 45mm hole behind the cabinet then getting a dentist mirror to peer inside.

Paul

[bungeejumper]

I've had a few of those over the years. Never found one any better for finding timber studs than "tapping along the wall and listening for the noise to change" and they weren't cheap.

Me neither. But any nails or screws should scream. Mind you, so should cables.

The other issue is on one wall there is a shower on the other side, plumbed with flexible plastic pipework, which could be anywhere I'm seriously considering using my hole saw to make a 45mm hole behind the cabinet then getting a dentist mirror to peer inside.

LOL, good luck with that one. Don't forget to wear a sou-wester. Maybe start in with just the smallest hole possible, then drill the 45mm one once you can twizzle a bent nail around in a full circle without hitting anything on the other side?

Although there surely must be a better way just to look inside? I am sorely tempted to enrich my useless gizmo drawer with one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Endoscope-insp ... 07YKNLC7R/

[Edit] Or these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088GRC2BF . Even smaller.

BJ

[PhaseThree]

Have you looked at these as an option ? I've used them in the past and they held well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Genuine-P ... iy&sr=1-41

[DrFfybes]

Have you looked at these as an option ? I've used them in the past and they held well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Genuine-P ... iy&sr=1-41

And, by pure cioncidence, we have a winner.

I looked for a local Ironmongery place earlier to see if I could get the long lengths of hanging bracket, and found Welfit in town. A quick phone call and they had 2m lengths, which is more than needed, plus loads of fixings.

I just got back with 2m of the bar, 4 of those Toggler snapfits as suggested by the man in the white coat behind the counter, a handful of M5 x 50 bolts (probably only needed 40mm long but there is plenty of space in the wall and 5 washers, and change from a tenner

I also got asked for ID in Lidl for the wine, but I blame that on the cap and the mask.

Paul

[DrFfybes]

Just as an update, you MUST use a 13mm drill bit for these.

The chap in the shop suggested a 12mm with some wiggling would be OK, and it did get the toggle through, howver the bit you slode forwards to lock it needs a 13mm hole, not an "oval 12". 13mm tile drills are oddly something not commonly stocked, and masonry bits tend not to run central on tiles, een with a pilot hole 2mm smaller.

Of course once tightened the collar slides up like a cable tie and can't be released so I'll have to cut it off and drop the toggle into the cavity and get another fixing as well

Pah.

Paul