Wall hung sink anchoring

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Jadnashua

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I'm going to be installing a wall-hung vanity sink in a few weeks. The old one now removed had some clips on the wall - only one screw actually went into a stud or blocking. The position of the new sink's screws don't line up with any stud or blocking. It's plaster on gypsum board from the early 50's (no lath).

Would you tear the wall up and put in blocking? or just rely on say toggle or molly bolts? the sink is 21.5" wide and 16.5" deep. The drawing shows two bolts holding it to the wall (I don't have it or the instructions, yet).
 

Geniescience

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2 bolts in plaster? No.

jim

A 17" lever from the wall is small, but still far too big, even if your sink has several inches depth, which brace it too.

On an average day, nobody is going to put their weight on the sink. One day it will happen. Someone will sit, lean, fall or step up onto the sink. From that day forward the wall support "system" will deteriorate visibly. The drywall hole, or the drywall itself, will deteriorate, no matter how solid the butterfly / toggle / bolts feel on Day 1. The P trap and plumbing will give it some more solidity too, but that won't be the answer either, i.m.o. The supply plumbing will help it hang in mid-air if the whole assembly ever gets too loose.

If you put in blocking, the repair will be easy since most of the opening is already hidden by the sink.

What is on the sides? Empty space?

You could bolt a cleat into the studs, and drop the other cleat (bolted to sink) into it. French Cleat.
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/To_cleat_or_not_to_cleat.html
http://www.newwoodworker.com/frenchcleat.html
Used for mirrors and heavy things. I might make it out of metal. I might cut away the drywall to bolt in to the studs directly -- this will bring the sink closer to the wall.

No matter what you do, it's a lot of calculating and thinking, and I can understand why the average homebuilder just relies on boxes that use gravity to stand on the floor. I still have to install two wall-hung sinks in my neverending bathroom renovations.

David
 

Racer814

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you can cut a hole in the sheetrock behing the basin....not much wider than a 2x4 so that it will be hidden....measure stud to stud behind it.....screw one side of the 2x4 to the stud if there is one behind it and screw the other end to adjacent stud by angling a long drywall screw through the sheetrock and into the 2x4 block and on into the stud....do the same thing on the other side of the blocking if there isn't a stud behind the basin........all you have to do then is mud over the drywall screws..I've done this numerous times on pedestals that were installed with no supports


I had a service call on one last summer that was sitting 6" off the wall..you could bump it and it would wobble....the homeowner didn't even know any better:eek: ....we used this same method to fix his and he was:D
 
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Norcal1

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If you can't brace it well, then just put in a pedestal sink.

I have an elderly lady client who lost her balance and leaned on her wall mount sink (NOT installed by me) and the thing came crashing down...she was very lucky to not be injured. And, she was very lucky that there was slack in the stainless steel flex lines or water could have been spraying everywhere.

Needless to say, she asked me to install a small vanity setup. :)
 

Jadnashua

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I think I'll give the people at www.wingits.com a call to see if they think a pair of their fasteners would work. They are designed to install safety grab bars and other things. I'll report back what they say. These fasteners are similar to a molly bolt, but much bigger in diameter and more fingers.

Getting the wall to look good if I cut it out and reinforce it will be a pain - it has approximately 3/8" of plaster on top of plaster board (not really drywall - its strips of about 2' high drywall looking stuff, but is finished like drywall on the long edge - I'd never seen any before this house).
 

TedL

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You have lath...gypsum lath. I had it in my first house, 1930's vintage.

Below, 1920

1920-pedestal-lav.jpg
 
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