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Closet Maid Shelving

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Eric S

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
This guy moved in to his room and hung all of his suits/clothes from the closet maid shelving which had been installed by previous tenant. Came home and found that the shelving had collapsed. None of this had been attached to stud in the wall. These studs are 25.5" on center along this wall's span. The brackets which help to support this shelving literally punched through the drywall which is 1/2" thick.

I will be re-hanging this stuff, attaching to the few studs existing, and using more supports (to distribute the load). I will be telling this guy that this could happen again but, that I've done all that I can/know how to. This wall is atrocious. You can knock on it and it sends back the most un-supported sound (hollow) I've ever heard from walls. The studs are wood.

He claims that he tried two other "Handy? Men?" and they took his money instead of buying supplies and he never heard from them again. I'm convinced I can do no worse even if this caves in again (lame wall construction and re-hanging in pretty much the same area). I will be telling him to concentrate his wardrobe weight mainly near the stud locations. I will bias the brackets spacing wise towards the studs.

Would like input related to best work practices and your thoughts on the matter.

Thank you.
 
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#3 ·
Those punch through nail attachment things are crap
Cut the tips off of them (you'll know what I mean, the ends of those goofy plastic things) so you can use screws rather than nails and use (nice long) all purpose screws to go into the studs

I've installed those shelves that way into 24 on center (metal stud) walls in commercial apps where they got abused quite a bit
You screw them into studs, you'll be OK
...if the shelves are long enough to hit a few of them

If that's not going to work for whatever reason, you can run some trim or even furring strips left to right across the studs, and use those for the shelf mounting screws (the ones you buy)
 
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#4 ·
i am a closetmaid dealer and install about 1000' a week of it.

the supplied hardware IS NOT crap if installed correctly. i have to go back on probably 1% of the jobs ive ever done.

i put the backclips on 12" centers, with the support braces every 3'. then i go back and put a "saddle clamp" on a stud in the middle. maybe 2 or 3 on longer shelves.

works fine.

any questions, ask. im im a pro at anything, its shelving.
 
#6 ·
shelf guy said:
the supplied hardware IS NOT crap if installed correctly
Click to expand...
I agree
I have found the correct installation is to snip the heads off of the supplied plastic hardware, dispose of the nails, and install all-purpose screws in to the studs, and not use the cheesy plastic nail punch through thingies into the drywall
Then they work just fine
:laughing:

Unfortunately, I'm not kidding
In commercial apps, it's the only way I'll do it
Or a rental unit (especially one with failed shelving, and a customer that has been ripped off and is real nervous about this)...same thing
I wouldn't recommend installing them any other way
...unless it's the 1/4 or firring strip thing
 
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#9 ·
shelf guy said:
if you put a 1x4 on the wall then screw the backclips to it, then the support brace will not hit the wall at the proper angle, and you will have to bend it to make it work.
Click to expand...
You use a 1x4 for the bottom of the braces too, chief
Those gotta go into something solid also
 
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#13 ·
Ah...6 months...
Yeah I've seen those punch through thingies last longer than that no problem
Even in commercial apps...lol...sometimes

But man do they make a Mess (<- note capital "m") when they fail
Now you have patch jobs and paint jobs all along the length of the shelving

Awesome that shelf guy is busy thought
Super cool!
 
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#14 ·
you guys hate on me if you want, ive installed more closet shelving this month than most of you have ever seen period. if you cant do a sound installation with the supplied hardware then you simply are not doing it correctly.

and yes i know you can do a t-shape and use a 1x4 for the support brace but that looks piss poor IMO. talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.

sorry to come across as harsh but i know what im talking about.
 
#15 ·
OMG...you just made my day!

shelf guy said:
if you cant do a sound installation with the supplied hardware then you simply are not doing it correctly.
Click to expand...
Good luck there buddy!

I guess you have never ~ in your vast experience ~ come across the job that is the epitome of this expression:
You can't polish a turd.

shelf guy said:
... i know what im talking about.
Click to expand...
Are you from California?
 
#16 ·
This is the stuff they sell in Lowes or Home Depot? If so, it's not that impressive, but it's a you get what you pay for thing always in life right?

I keep a case full of wall anchoring devices on the trailer, toggles, all the different wall anchor systems. I usually always find myself defaulting to my own fasteners with just about anything I am mounting, be it a shelving unit in a closet or a towel bar in a bathroom. The old tried and true plastic wall anchor that you screw into seems to always be the best method when in doubt.

I installed a lot of that closet stuff in my own house, glued it all together, did a lot of modifying and customizing of it. It looks pretty good but the quality of the stuff is really lacking. I've never found anything that relies on break down hardware for assembly to be expected to perform legitimately.

But I'm not sure what the alternative is. What is available as a step up from this stuff? There seems to be a huge gap between this stuff and the next available product.
 
#17 ·
Celtic said:
OMG...you just made my day!



Good luck there buddy!

I guess you have never ~ in your vast experience ~ come across the job that is the epitome of this expression:
You can't polish a turd.



Are you from California?
Click to expand...
so youre trying to tell me its IMPOSSIBLE to do a sound installation with the closetmaid hardware? i dont know what else to tell you bro, but im not going to argue about it.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
And finally...the tardy reply!

Here is the skinny:

I went with clips minus this silly hammer-in nail and it expands plastic anchor business.

Used clips with 1/8" toggles in hollow wall areas every 12" as spec by manufacturer. Hit stud as often as possible (every damned one of them) with clips and 3" drywall screws.

Supports (brackets) are spaced 25.5" apart (hitting stud in every instance).

The wall was wavy vertically for about the last 3' or 4' so the shelf wanted to rise 1/8" off of some of the clips after install. I corrected this by raising those offending clips.

I would not use the manufacturer provided clips unless I was going to be guaranteed a couple of nights with two women (two that I get to chose).

-or- unless my client stated that these shelves were only going to be used as paper airplane displays.

My clients want to put their copious amounts of clothes on or hanging off of these types of shelves...there is no way in hell the manufacturer supplied "PUSS-FACTOR" anchors would do this type of job. Closet Maid would do things more efficiently if they discontinued supplying these dorko clips with their shelving units. These things are a waste of material.

Yes. Furring strips or 1x4 would be helpful...I did not have time to really do it like that. This man was a disgruntled/lied to renter from CraigsList so this was not some fancy nor high budget job.

Better than closet maid? Sure...Knape & Vogt or similar standards and brackets along with some melamine or mdf shelves would be far more sturdy for a shelving type application. I would also use two closet pole brackets spanning two standards if I could track such an item down.

This man had plenty of dress clothes to hang along the entire 12' span of shelving. Even he is saying that maybe it's time for some of this stuff to go to the thrift shop.
 
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#19 ·
I've had problems hanging this stuff before, mostly because of the quality or condition of the wall-board in the closet. More recently I've started going a more custom route with my customers. Sometimes they balk at the higher price but most agree when they learn how much better the quality is. I pre-build modules to fit in the closet. Ultimately it's a much better solution; no re-drywalling and the customer is a lot happier with a professional looking closet.
 
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