Attaching bookshelves to walls (for child safety)

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anon

Sun, Jul 05 2009, 10:48 pm

I've heard that it's important to attach shelves to walls because they can sometimes tip over if a child tries to climb it. My question is, how does one go about doing this? Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

shoy18

Sun, Jul 05 2009, 11:08 pm

you buy a bracket thats L shaped, it screws into the top of the book shelves and to the wall.

http://www.disastersafety.org/.....=1017

http://www.ehow.com/how_215756......html

its so so important especially if you have older kids who like to climb.

anon

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 12:58 am

Thanks a lot shoy!

greenfire

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 9:26 am

don't just screw the brackets anywhere ... make sure it goes into a stud (the wood framing that sits vertically behind the drywall or plaster) ... this way the bookshelf is truly secure ...

and please if somebody is painting your house - make sure to tell them you screwed the bookshelves onto the walls ... Idea

Mommastuff

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 1:56 pm

If your walls aren't straight and the shelves aren't flush against the wall, you can use rubber "belts" (for lack of a better word) and screw one end to the book shelf and the other to the wall.

You could probably find some thing suitable from the dollar store to use for this.

Mommastuff

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 2:10 pm

or you could try this:
anti tipping device for furniture

SomebodyElse

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 2:21 pm

greenfire wrote:

don't just screw the brackets anywhere ... make sure it goes into a stud (the wood framing that sits vertically behind the drywall or plaster) ... this way the bookshelf is truly secure ...

Greenie, we need you! DH is fairly handy and knew about the stud thing. He even borrowed a studfinder from our maintenance guy. But neither one of them could figure out how to use the thing!! Banging head

anon

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 7:32 pm

thanks mommastuff, that does look helpful for the handy-challenged

Greenfire, thanks for the tip, now let's see if we can figure out how to do it.

greenfire

Mon, Jul 06 2009, 7:41 pm

SomebodyElse wrote:

I hate stud finders too (unless it's a hottie we're lookin for Wink

) there is a trick to find a socket because they are usually attached to a stud - then measure 16" ... I bet nothing is fool proof ... but the hammer and nail Banging head

anonymom

Tue, Jul 07 2009, 12:30 am

Funny, just last night my six year old was lying on the floor in front of the bookcase and he asked me if it can fall over. I told him that is a good thing to be concerned about, but luckily we had ours fastened to the wall.

Mommastuff

Tue, Jul 07 2009, 1:54 pm

I'm glad we have ours attached to the wall because my kids like to empty the shelves and lie in them!
They have also learned to climb the shelves and reach very high!

mimsy7420

Mon, Jul 13 2009, 4:15 pm

here's how:
Call a handyman Smile

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