metal wall studs , heavy cabinet

[Mark Ketelsen]

I am about finished with a large cabinet to house most of my hand tools. It will weigh a 2 -3 hundred pounds when loaded (lots of planes). I plan to hang it with a French cleat. It's wide enough to catch 3 studs. My concern is that the studs are metal not wood. I just saw a web site that says metal studs aren't even strong enough to hang a flat screen TV on.

Is this a valid concern, or will 3 studs with 3 screws in each (the wall cleat is 6" wide) distribute the weight enough? Also, any advice on hanging on metal studs (e.g. best fasteners, etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Rod Sheridan]

Mark, unless you want to spend time repairing planes, I wouldn't hang a 300 pound cabinet on 3 metal studs.

Can it be hung from the floor joists above?

Regards, Rod.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm with Rod.
I wouldn't do it. I'd somehow transfer a good deal of the load to the floor via legs.

[Mike Wilkins]

Sounds like its time to build a really nice floor standing cabinet for your treasures. There are some fine examples in the Toolbox Book by Jim Tolpin.

[Garth Keel]

With so much weight, it might be an good idea to build a work bench type table base with an overhang so you can take some of the planes out and display them. With that type of base 300# is not a problem.

[Ted Baca]

No No No I had a freind hang a rather heavy cabinet on metal studs in his basement behind his bar. Long story short, he awoke one late night to crashing sound and spent the next few weekends rebuilding a wall. Not to mention his daughter was very upset since her closet was on the other side. By the way it wasn't the way it was fastened, as the cabinet stayed on the wall, er rather, the wall stayed on the cabinet.
The wall just folded.
Anyway that you can open the wall and put in some 2x4 studs? Hopefully not too many wires to deal with.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I have metal studs in my home and they are a pain in the a**. Here's what the builder did for the kitchen and utility room cabinets. Before drywalling they intalled wood strips between the studs. They were screwed into the studs and "locked" into the studs due to the shape of the metal studs. Since you are post drywall all you do is remove a 1-3 inch horizantal section of drywall where the screws will go. Then you screw in your wood backing which could be 2x4's . The 2x4's will be locked into the studs and should be very strong for hanging anything. They are holding up our kitchen cabinets for years with a heavy load and the builder only used 1x backing for this.

[Tom Hargrove]

Mark -

Metal studs are manufactured in different gauges of steel. Some are strong enough to support your box, but most are not. Most steel stud walls are designed to hold the drywall, and not much else. The studs used in residential construction are generally of the lighter variety, unless the wall is a load bearing wall.

I had a cabinet fall off a wall once. I would not risk my tools.

[Tom Godley]

I used a lot of metal studs on my last major house rehab - I like them.

They come in different gauge metal - you need to use the correct type -- and installed them correctly.

They are fantastic for building a soffit. no warping!

For hanging heavy objects they sell sheets of metal that you install horizontally under the drywall. I used two 6" wide strips all around the kitchen at the top and bottom of the cabinets. Same for other locations that heavy objects may be installed. That way you can fasten at any location along a wall - not just at a stud. These strips also come in different gauge metal - they are very strong.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

My .02. Make the cabinet so it stands on the ground and the metal stud wall just keeps it from falling over.... Or put a couple decorative 4 bys under it. Some vintage planes do not take to being dropped.....

[Mark Norman]

Open up the wall (remove the rock) add several studs from bottom to top plate and re-rock.

[Larry Edgerton]

What is the ceiling height? I recently ran into this problem when I was hired to build a gun safe and equipment cabinet. It had to hang on a steel stud wall and the ammunition supply was heavy, aprox 400#. My solution was to do cabinets that went to the ceiling even though the ceilings were 9'. I did a seperate set of doors on top that had to be accessed with a ladder. The cabinets could then be anchored to the TJI floor joist with lags taking all the weight off of the wall.

Just a thought......