French Cleats

[Brian Keith]

I built a wall cabinet for small hand tools roughly 3'x4' and was going to use a french cleat to hang. Is there a certain size length,height,thickness for the cleat? Also should I use hardwood instead of soft? Thanks for any info.

[Brent Smith]

Hi Brian,

I have my tool cabinet hanging from a french cleat. Opened it is about 3'X5', made from walnut veneered BB ply and Walnut. Fully loaded it weighs about 300-350 lbs. I made my cleats from 3/4" BB ply. They are about 7" full width (the two parts) and about 30" long. I have it attached to the cabinet with some #8 screws into the back and some pocket screws around the recessed edge. The wall cleat is attached to a cement wall with tapcons. I'm pretty positive that even with all my tools in it I could use it to do pull ups, and I'm no lite weight.

[John Keeton]

I think the main concern would be to use wood that would not "tear thru" going into the studs. I would avoid pine.

Use long enough screws to get plenty of purchase in the studs since it is that half of the cleat that is limited on the number of screws. As Brent stated, you can usually get plenty of screws in the half that is on the cabinet. Most of the stress is shear factor, not pull out, so don't use brittle screws - such as drywall screws.

[David Giles]

3 to 3.5" wide plywood or hardwood works fine. I've used good quality pine for light weight mating cleats.

Some rabbet mating edges which works well in kitchens that need a run of cabinets to be level even if the walls bow a little. For shop cabinets, a 45 degree mating edge is much easier.

Will you have multiple rows of cleats on the wall? Space them to that future cabinets and support boards can all be the same size. I spaced the cleats 25" apart to accommodate 24" high movable panels.

I assume that you are cleating the entire wall so that you can reposition the cabinet in the future? If not, why not just screw the cabinet to the wall?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

David, I use french cleats because they make the square hanging of cabinets a breeze, not because they facilitate moving. Moving is a nice side benefit though.

[glenn bradley]

Mine are about the size of Brent's but longer (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79075&d=1200153815) as I move stuff about. Since the pic a lower cleat has been added as well as others about the shop. Very convenient. I used shop grade 3/4" ply that I sealed and waxed at the joining points and where the fixtures contact the wall; again due to the fact that I move stuff and didn't want it to stick (DAMHIKT).

[harry strasil]

the cleats I used, I recessed the hole a bit with a spade bit and used fender washers under the screws to help with holding power, tear out and pull thru.

[Peter Quinn]

Mine are made from what ever 3/4" material I happen to have laying around. Plywood works well. a full 45 degrees is not necessary, I usually go something like 30 degrees?

Last set was a shop cab for shaper cutters and set up pieces with lots of little cubbies, holds lots of weight. The cleats run the full length of the back of a 48"X18" cabinet. I used doug fir milled 1 1/4", PAS nailed into the concrete. That sucker wouldn't move if I asked it to. I'd use spruce or fir but not white pine on a cab bearing much weight. For soft wood cleats I usually mill 1"-1 1/4" and use washer head screws recessed into a forstner hole, for most hard wood 3/4" is sufficient.

[david kramer]

Mine are about the size of Brent's but longer (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79075&d=1200153815) (DAMHIKT).

Glenn,

I also live in So. Cal, and I would _never_ use a French cleat. Every once in a while the ground around here goes "shrug" and I don't want to be anywhere near freely hung cabinets when that happens.

For those of you not blessed to live in earthquake territory, we pretty much tie everything over 4' high to the wall. I spent last weekend trying to get an 8' high, built-in bookshelf out of my office without destroying it or the wall. It has about 50! nails driven by a nail gun through the back and into the studs. So far I've got the top about 1/2" away from the wall. I'll spend this weekend trying to move it another 1/2" :).

David

[M Toupin]

Glenn,

I also live in So. Cal, and I would _never_ use a French cleat. Every once in a while the ground around here goes "shrug" and I don't want to be anywhere near freely hung cabinets when that happens.

use a french cleat to place and hold the cabinet up, then put a extra screw into the wall in bottom of the cabinet. That keeps the cabinet from lifting off the cleat and the bottom in so it won't lift. A lot easier for installs, and a LOT eaiser if you decide to move something later down the road. Doesn't take much, one screw would work, two if it makes you feel better. If the ground moves enough that cabinet comes off the wall, well... you got more structural problems than a cabinet on the floor at that point.

Mike

[david kramer]

use a french cleat to place and hold the cabinet up, then put a extra screw into the wall in bottom of the cabinet. That keeps the cabinet from lifting off the cleat and the bottom in so it won't lift.
Mike

Hey, a combination, that's an excellent idea! I'm busy building some cabinets for my garage and I think I'm going to do exactly that. Thanks for the suggestion. Boy I love hanging out with people who know what they're doing :).

David

[glenn bradley]

Glenn,

I also live in So. Cal, and I would _never_ use a French cleat.

David brings up a valid point for folks who expect the earth to hold still :p. On my movable shop fixtures I have a pair of holes just below the wall cleat. Double headed nails cut to length go in holes in each fixture and act as retainers. If it shakes hard enough to knock those loose, I'll have bigger problems than a fallen clamp rack :D.

As a third-generation SoCal boy, earthquakes are just part of our lives here. We pretty much quake-proof everything without even thinking about it. David's warning is very valid in these parts.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I guess I just took it for granted. I put 1/2 the French cleat at the top of my cabinets and a plain cleat at the bottom. I locate and level the other half of the French Cleat on the wall...hang the cabinet and then run a couple of screw through the bottom cleat into each of the wall studs. In reality I'm anchored to wall studs through both cleats.