French Cleat Questions

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I use a recessed French cleat on my hung cabinets. The back of the cabinet is recessed into the sides and top by the thickness of my French cleat. Thus the sides and top of the cabinets are flush against the walls when hung. This prevents any dust buildup should it escape my DC and 2 air cleaners. While I only use a French cleat near the top of the cabinet, I use a cabinet wide spacer the same thickness as the cleat near the bottom. I hang the cabinet on the cleat and run a couple screws through the back of the cabinet and through the spacer into the studs.

[Jim Becker]

Jim,
I have heard of people doing just that, but I have yet to hang anything so heavy that I felt like I needed a second cleat. I thought about it briefly when I hung a live edge slab I finished as a headboard, but I had lags into three studs and even I was satisfied that it was sufficient.

Thanks for the input.

Scott

I agree that in most cases, two cleats aren't really necessary to support things to be hung. Where I might employ top and bottom might be for, say, hanging a cabinet that will house things like portable electric hand tools, such as routers and the like. It's nice having that option and that's a good reason to keep the spacing of cleat rows "standardized" in the shop so you can easily move any "double cleat" items elsewhere down the road.

[Scott Brader]

It's nice having that option and that's a good reason to keep the spacing of cleat rows "standardized" in the shop so you can easily move any "double cleat" items elsewhere down the road.

That's a great idea!

[Jim Becker]

Sometimes it does pay to be anal about things, Scott...

[Chris Parks]

All my Jet clamps are hanging from one cleat and there must be hundreds of pounds in that lot.

[Mike Cutler]

I agree that in most cases, two cleats aren't really necessary to support things to be hung. Where I might employ top and bottom might be for, say, hanging a cabinet that will house things like portable electric hand tools, such as routers and the like. It's nice having that option and that's a good reason to keep the spacing of cleat rows "standardized" in the shop so you can easily move any "double cleat" items elsewhere down the road.

My kitchen cabinets are hung with double french cleats.
You would be stunned at how heavy a cabinet full of dishes is.

I personally would not use solid wood, unless it was from some very specific species of wood, for french cleats. Birch ply, or scrap cabinet ply, make very strong cleats.

[Jim Becker]

I agree that plywood probably makes the strongest cleats, but good, "cheap" oak or similar looks nice for folks who will have an exposed cleat system covering their walls.

And yea...kitchen cabinets can be darn heavy when loaded!

[glenn bradley]

I have cleats at three heights the length of some wall sections. This has met my needs. If I need more granular adjustability like a full cleat wall, I just hang a board or fixture that allows that. This kept me from having to run a half a dozen or more cleats. Since it is desieable to have the cleats plumb and true to allow you to slide any fixture to any spot, the less the better in my shop/garage that was framed by a crew after a 12 beer lunch ;-) I shimmed the stud for plumb and laid drywall or OSB over the studs. The cleats are screwed with 3-1/2" #10 screws at each stud. Never had one so much as wiggle in all these years of adds, moves and changes. Things have morphed several times over the years.

Aug-2011-cleats.jpg . Cleat Clamp Rack V2 (27).jpg

Cleat Clamp Rack V2 (15).jpg . BS-Acc-Rack-Add-(4).jpg . Tool Holder (5).jpg

[Ted Reischl]

French cleats are fine. BUT. You are moving into a small shop, wall space is at a premium, french cleats waste LOTS of wall space.

I am also in a small space. One of the things I did was build a cabinet (from Shop Notes) that has sliding doors. The cabinet is a frame and the panels are mostly peg board. I HATE peg board as a rule. But I built all custom type holders for my tools. It is amazing how much stuff is packed into that double layer cabinet.

[Jim Becker]

French cleats are fine. BUT. You are moving into a small shop, wall space is at a premium, french cleats waste LOTS of wall space.

Please help us understand why you feel that French Cleats waste a lot of space...they only serve as a mounting point for other things, so to my mind, any wasted space is merely because one isn't using the space efficiently, regardless of how things are mounted on the wall.

[Scott Adams]

I get what everyone is saying about the space issue. I will probably either do one long wall or one short wall. I think the thing that appeals is that I can better create holders to suit my needs and move things around/rearrange till my hearts content. Honestly, I will probably cleat some things that take up valuable floor space and put them up high and out of the way when not in use. I will probably put the scroll saw, bench vise, and bench grinder on cleats. I would think the system could be made more efficient depending on how everything is organized. Of course it is always different when actually applied. My last garage was only studded (no drywall). Now that is a waste of space! I hated it.

[Jim Becker]

The cleat system really makes sense where there's a need or desire to be able to arrange and re-arrange for sure. It's also a snap to extend to other walls if you decide that having only one doesn't give you the fexlibility you need. And yea...with a little creativity, you can easily hang smaller specialty tools like you describe so lesser used things are not taking up valuable space. In many respects, there are a few things I would do different in my shop today if I were building from scratch and using a cleat system where possible would be one of them...I've rearranged things on the walls multiple times as my shop has evolved!