On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:30:40 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:

On 12 Oct 2004 03:19:34 -0700, coder wrote:

Do I need battens or some kind of special fixing behind the units to
spread the load across the studs?

You could try the metal "hollow wall anchors", the type with a machine
screw that pulls the back end of the plug in and spreads out a
multi-fingered metal flower on to the back of the plasterboard.

How thick is the plaster board, 9.5mm might bow over time under the
load, though most load from a wall cupboard is vertical rather than a
horizontal pull.

I may be a bit over cautious but these are are highly loaded fixings (more
so that say a radiator). Whilst the cabinets in a run can help each other
out they only have two top corner fixings per box.
I would suggest that you put a peice of 2x2 right the way across the top
of the run and anchor that to the studs with 80mm-100mm screws.
Fit the boxes with the normal fixings e.g Nailex or even just wall plugs.
( this gives a bit of pull to keep the boxes back to the wall.
The drill up through the roof of each box at about 150mm spacing,
countersink lightly and screw up into the batten with 50mm screws.
If you really want to carry on in the spirit of IKEA you can put little
plastic domes on the screw heads. 8-)

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html