How to float garage cabinets on half a steel stud wall?

[White Shadow]

Guys, I'm getting ready to mount a set of four upper and lower cabinets and two lockers on each side in my garage. These are Saber cabinets and they are designed to float, so they don't come with any legs. I like the idea of floating cabinets as long as I know that they'll be REALLY secure because I'm going to load them up with a lot of weight and the last thing I want is to have a mounting/holding issues.

Anyway, take a look at the pics and tell me how I should go about mounting the lower cabinets. The picture is obviously before the sheetrock went up, so you can see the lower wall is part of the foundation. It's a Superior Wall foundation, which is insulated and has steel "studs" and also traditional wood framing above the foundation. If I remember correctly, the foundation wall is about 21" high. The cabinets are 32" tall and I plan to float them about 5" off the ground, which means that half the cabinet will be over the metal studs and half will be over the wood studs.

Someone suggested that I bolt a 1x6 on edge on the wall/floor to use as support for the lower cabinets and then just use lag bolts into the wood. What do you guys think? Is that the best approach? Will it hold well enough?

I'm also trying to figure out if I'm going to float the lockers or just put them on the floor and secure them to the wall. I just installed a RaceDeck floor and I don't know if it's a good idea to put heavy lockers on a floor that is supposed to float.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GMCGarage]

I recommend that the rear of the cabinets rest on a back support of either an existing protruding foundation stem wall or on a dimensional 2 x 6 or 2 x 4 fastened to the wall also.

What does the installation manual say?

 

[Radix2]

I like the 2x6 rear support. No downside to losing an inch and a half way back under the cabinets. Get that all perfectly leveled and it will make install a snap too.

I would also consider just building a toe kick to keep the dust space down. Not much style benefit to a 2 foot deep 5 in crack under there that is hard to dust out. Make it 6in deep and black for the best functionality.

 

[AZ Pete]

French cleats.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[EOC_Jason]

The 2x4 or 2x6 support + lags sounds like the way to go....

What is you took another board, painted it black and brought it out a 6", or even a foot from the wall for them to rest on? Additional support and you probably wouldn't see the board.

 

[toolman9w]

Could put a home built door sweep and store creepers in the blank space.

 

[btdobie]

What gauge is the steel? If it is 20 or thicker I would just run self tappers into it. My best guess; Most of the weight is going to be carried by the first two fasteners you install so do the top ones in the wood first.

 

[Chris705]

so at a 5" or 5.5" float you would be putting the blocking on the floor, which I think would be fine as long as you use PT wood. If you use PT wood then I think you may want a separator between wood and cabinet that rests on it....something like builders felt or wood shim strip to lessen the chance of the PT chemicals rusting out the cabinet....assuming they are metal? Also not sure if the cabinet tops end up being at counter height but you may want to adjust this blocking up or down based on the height you want the top to be at....I am tall and like my cabinet tops to be at 38 or 39"....
That's a nice garage window!

 

[Dr Stan]

This may not be the best analogy, but a leading cause of death among toddlers is the tipping over of bookcases, dressers, etc when they climb on them. Now imagine a cabinet full of tools with more on top falling over pinning you or worse falling on a child visiting your shop.

There have been numerous conversations about injuries and worse on this and other sites due to the cabinet tipping over on which they sit.

Bottom line, secure the cabinets. Easy to do during installation and one does not want to secure them after an accident.

 

[White Shadow]

I recommend that the rear of the cabinets rest on a back support of either an existing protruding foundation stem wall or on a dimensional 2 x 6 or 2 x 4 fastened to the wall also.

What does the installation manual say?

I'm still waiting for the cabinets to be delivered, so I don't have any installation manual. There's nothing protruding and the cabinets will not reach the side wall on either side. They'll be maybe 3 inches short on both sides.

 

[White Shadow]

This may not be the best analogy, but a leading cause of death among toddlers is the tipping over of bookcases, dressers, etc when they climb on them. Now imagine a cabinet full of tools with more on top falling over pinning you or worse falling on a child visiting your shop.

There have been numerous conversations about injuries and worse on this and other sites due to the cabinet tipping over on which they sit.

Bottom line, secure the cabinets. Easy to do during installation and one does not want to secure them after an accident.

That's exactly the purpose of the thread. The cabinets are designed to be secured to the wall. The metal studs on the bottom scare me, so I wish the wood studs went all the way to the floor.

 

[lakeroadster]

OP... For you, in your garage, what is the reasoning behind floating them instead of placing them on the floor?

I think I would simply set them on the floor, or build a base for them and set them on the floor unless there is a specific reason not to.

Each of the cabinets in my shop have 4 legs and the bottom of the cabinets are maybe 5" off the floor.

• Not enough space to store anything under them
  
• Enough space for stuff to roll under them
  
• Enough space for filth to accumulate

I usually take the air hose and blow out anything under the cabinets at the end of any dusty projects... and when I do I wonder why I just don't build a PT base for them to sit on.

Food for thought.

 

[Voi]

Anyway, take a look at the pics and tell me how I should go about mounting the lower cabinets. The picture is obviously before the sheetrock went up, so you can see the lower wall is part of the foundation. It's a Superior Wall foundation, which is insulated and has steel "studs" and also traditional wood framing above the foundation. If I remember correctly, the foundation wall is about 21" high. The cabinets are 32" tall and I plan to float them about 5" off the ground, which means that half the cabinet will be over the metal studs and half will be over the wood studs.

I've never seen much less used one of these foundations systems but isn't there rebar in each stud? So when the wall is cast concrete goes inside of each stud? If so and you end up needing to attach a ledger board or base to the steel studs you likely would need Tapcons or something similar. Not self tappers unless there is a void behind the front flange of each steel stud.

If it were me I'd probably just put a double French cleat. One at the bottom of the wood wall and one at the top of the base cabinet height. These would both be continuous to the outside edges at least of the adjacent lockers. Note that your lower French cleat could bridge the junction between the foundation wall and the wood wall, assuming the finished face of both are flush with each other (sorry if this has already been mentioned). The cleat could then be fastened to the wall with screws only going into the wood studs or base plate.

I would then put in at least one near the top of the lockers or maybe another continuous one that held both the top cabinets and the lockers.

I'd live with this for a while and then maybe (or maybe not) order some adjustable cabinet feet for the front edge of the lower cabinet and lockers.

 

[White Shadow]

OP... For you, in your garage, what is the reasoning behind floating them instead of placing them on the floor?

I think I would simply set them on the floor, or build a base for them and set them on the floor unless there is a specific reason not to.

Each of the cabinets in my shop have 4 legs and the bottom of the cabinets are maybe 5" off the floor.

• Not enough space to store anything under them
  
• Enough space for stuff to roll under them
  
• Enough space for filth to accumulate

I usually take the air hose and blow out anything under the cabinets at the end of any dusty projects... and when I do I wonder why I just don't build a PT base for them to sit on.

Food for thought.

First, I like the clean look of floating the cabinets. But more importantly, I have RaceDeck floating tiles on the floor and I probably wouldn't want the heavy cabinets sitting on them permanently. My understanding is that they expand & contract quite a bit with temperature changes.

 

[White Shadow]

I've never seen much less used one of these foundations systems but isn't there rebar in each stud? So when the wall is cast concrete goes inside of each stud? If so and you end up needing to attach a ledger board or base to the steel studs you likely would need Tapcons or something similar. Not self tappers unless there is a void behind the front flange of each steel stud.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there's any rebar at all. I believe they use steel fibers mixed into the concrete to produce a 5000 psi rating. Then it looks like they incorporate Styrofoam insulations and somewhat thin steel studs.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Unistrut lag bolted into the studs. Cabinets can be adjusted to whatever height you want now and in the future.

 

[Voi]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there's any rebar at all. I believe they use steel fibers mixed into the concrete to produce a 5000 psi rating. Then it looks like they incorporate Styrofoam insulations and somewhat thin steel studs.

Okay. I researched them for a project but never used them. Regardless, if the concrete is cast into the void of the steel stud pick your fastener accordingly.

I'm not sure if you'd get more support screwing through the foam face and into the underlying concrete or into the studs and then into the concrete, assuming it's there. I'd want to ask Superior Wall about that. I say this in case you find yourself needing or wanting a ledger board below the cabinets.

Also, ignore my comment about self leveling feet. I'm not sure they'd work well with the plastic tiles.

I've hung some large and heavy cabinets in a floating fashion before but not with the added effect of a heavily loaded drawer opening and pushing the weight forward. My gut says it can be done but I don't have any experience with this specific application and wall system.