Metal wall studs

[Don Newman]

I volunteer at an American Cancer resale shop. Someone donated a 36" MDF wall cabinet they want to hang in the back room to replace glass shelves which are there now. The shelves hold laundry soap and supplies so the shelves hold a reasonable amount of weight. I plan to use a french cleat to hang the cabinet but am not sure what fasteners to use to attach the cleat to the metal stud. I have never worked with metal wall studs and read a wide variety, often conflicting, advice on the net. I trust the combined wisdom and experience of SMC. Any advice?

[Steve Ryan]

A lot depends on the gage of the metal stud. Some require drilling but most interior studs do not. I use #9 screws that self drill. Do not tighten so as to strip the thread. Drive 1 screw straight in on the lower part of your cleat, drive a second screw above it at a downward angle. The 2 screws should not hit the same part of the stud. This will pinch the metal between the 2 angles.

[Bob Lloyd]

That partially would depend on the gauge of the stud. Personally, I have never just depended on a screw into the stud, I use drywall anchors, usually toggle bolts, located at the stud so it grabs the stud side as well . That is a PITA for cabinets but using a cleat you should have no problems. The other option is to remove some of the drywall and install blocking or plywood. That being said, I have taken wall cabinets down that had just drywall screws and construction adhesive to hold them up, some of the cabinets had no wall screws in them and were there at least 10 years.

[Wayne Hendrix]

I used to work for a company that installed lots of cabinets in hospitals and schools that used metal studs. The only thing we did was used a self drilling screw designed for metal studs, other than that we treated them just like wood studs and never had a problem. If we had been using cleats I would have done the double screws with one angled as suggested, that seems like a great idea.

[Bob Lloyd]

Steve's method sounds like a great idea. I am sure that the studs that Wayne worked with would have been heavier gauge. I have always been concerned about fixing into the real lighter gauges, probably the engineer in me!

[Don Newman]

Thanks. I'll cut out some dry wall to see what gauge of the stud and hopefully be able to use Steve's method of angled self drilling screws. Other wise, I'll use toggle bolts as per Bob's suggestion.