Hanging cabinets in a cinder block house

4 years ago

I'm trying to help out with my mother in law's house. Long story short, her husband passed away a little over a year ago, and afterward we discovered that the house was in MAJOR disrepair! So we all chipped in and hired someone to remodel everything, who ended up being a scammer and leaving her in worse shape than before >:-( At this point the police are involved, but she's broke and couch surfing until we can get it done.

The house was built in the 1950s. I don't think that it was originally intended to be a house, but I'm not sure. The frame is cinder block, and on the inside there are 1x4s mounted to the blocks in some way to act as studs. And drywall is hung on top of those studs.

My brother in law hung the kitchen cabinets last week, but I'm concerned with how it's done. As far as I can tell, he ran drywall screws through the back of the cabinets to hit the 1x4 stud, and then screwed in to drywall anchors on the other side of the back of the cabinet.

It looks good, but is this solid enough for her to put dishes and canned food everything in?

She said that she was told by several contractors that she can't use toggle bolt anchors to go through the cinder blocks. I have no idea why, other than (maybe?) because she can't see where the cinder blocks connect so there's no guaranteed way to drill your hold to the inside of the block?

What do you all think?

Featured Answer

PRO

GN Builders L.L.C

4 years ago

In older homes when dealing with a CMU exterior wall construction, we always used 2x material attached horizontally with sleeve anchors attached to the block and screw the cabinets into it. Screw fastened into 1x there is not enough depth for the screw to support the weight.

Where cabinets ended we order an oversized door as a side panel to cover 2x runners or matching cabinet 1/4" skin can also be used for more basic installs.

Here is an example.

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Comments (9)

millworkman
4 years ago
Exactly, use the 2x4's as essentially a hanger rail. Anchored to the wall with expansion or sleeve anchors and shimmed plumb makes hanging cabinets easy.
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ci_lantro
4 years ago
As far as I can tell, he ran drywall screws through the back of the cabinets

What they^^^said andnever use drywall screws to hang cabinets. Use cabinet screws.

Drywall screws are quite brittle & have little shear strength. Consider not only the weight of the cabinets but also the weight of the cabinet contents.
cleo
4 years ago
Second what cilantro says...drywall screws will snap off. Sometimes the heads snap off while screwing them in a wall let alone holding up a cabinet and contents.

Our first house was built of masonry block (also 1950s). We ran the wood on the wall like GN builders illustrated and hung from there. It was quick and easy and we hung wider end panels to cover the gaps.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks, all!

This whole thing has become a huge pain... at this point it looks like my options are to take all of the cabinets down and start over, which will royally tick off the brother in law (he's already very insulted that I dared to question his work)... or let it go and see what happens.

The MIL says that she doesn't care, she just wants it all done fast so she can get back in the house (she's been displaced for almost 6 months!). She thinks I'm overreacting, too, and the whole family seems to be making fun of me for trying to have everything done right. So I'm very close to just washing my hands of it.
millworkman
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
"Drywall screws are quite brittle & have little shear strength."

Exactly, and do not be surprised to see the cabinets all crashed down on the floor in fairly short order as "little shear strength" may be over stating the facts.
PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
4 years ago
Jason, you got good advice here, and there is no need for him to get insulted, it's educational and most importantly safe, the last thing anyone needs is a loaded cabinet come down, and hit someone.

As Screws go, there are many cabinet screws available, GRK is an excellent choice, you can also use a Powerhead cabinet screw if you have dark cabinets, Fastcap makes a good cabinet screw and they come in black, etc.

Good luck
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
4 years ago
there is no need for him to get insulted, it's educational and most importantly safe

Preaching to the choir, brother! LOL I'm going to sneak in one night and at least replace the drywall screws with cabinet screws. They can laugh at me if I get caught, but at least maybe she won't get killed with 200lbs of cabinet falling on her.
PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
4 years ago
Good luck!