# Hanging melamine cabinets on concrete



## Daveb (May 3, 2007)

I am an amateur woodworker and new to this forum. I have a question as to how best to hang cabinets to a concrete wall, without risk of them pulling out of the wall. 

I am making a set of three melamine cabinets out of 3/4 sheets (1/2 for the back), and the largest has dimensions of roughly 3ftx3ft. I am hanging them on a concrete basement wall above a washer/dryer. The cabinets will not tie to the ceiling or floor.

To avoid conduit and other items, the backs will be offset from the wall by 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

I plan to make hangars by ripping a board in half at a 45 degree angle, with one piece attached to the wall and the other to the cabinet. I also plan to use concrete anchor screws.

My question is this. With such a large offset from the wall, the hangar stock will be fairly thick, which might put more stress on the anchor screws, even if I recess the screws into the hangar.

Is there a better way to do this or any further suggestions? Or am I worrying about nothing?

Is one hangar for each cabinet enough?

Also, I have had varying success with the concrete anchor screws (Tapcon). Occasionally, the screws do not grab as tightly as I'd like. Other times they are rock solid.

Thanks! Dave


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## send_it_all (Apr 30, 2007)

I see no reason why this set up wouldnt work as long as you get a good grab with the achors....I would probably use a red head style anchor myself, instead of tapcons, but if they grab, it should be fine.


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## nywoodwizard (Oct 31, 2006)

I would hang your hangers from the floor joist above,if the joist direction is no good then install cats in between and secure your hanger boards from them,its easy and fast.


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## Daveb (May 3, 2007)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Unfortunately, the area is a bit complicated so that is partly why the cabinets do not go all the way to the ceiling. I am hanging three cabinets next to one another. It's a 1940 house, and the joists/ceilings in the laundry area are covered with wire mesh/rock plaster. There are exposed cold air returns above one of the cabinets, a window above another, and air conditioner plumbing going through the foundation above the other (along with more cold air returns). I did not want to deal with this mess in the cabinet design, so I made the cabinets shorter than the full height of the ceiling. 

This did give me another idea though. Since I need to build the hanger (rail) out a bit from the wall I could attach the rail to two or three vertically-running rails that are anchored to the block in several vertical locations. This would reduce the shear force that would otherwise pull on the rail anchors.

"send_it_all", what do you mean by "red head style anchor"? Is it a metal expansion type? Like one of these:
http://concrete-anchor.hardwarenet.com.tw/concrete-anchor.htm


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## nywoodwizard (Oct 31, 2006)

If its a hollow concrete wall then use these types or something similer,if its solid use the redheads(home depot).The SNAPTOGGLE® anchors(pic on the left) are very strong and are available at the local home depot,the other type on the right will work good also.tapcons suck


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## Daveb (May 3, 2007)

Great! Thank you. It will be a few weeks until I get to the hanging part. I 'll let you know how it goes. Maybe try posting a picture.
DaveB


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