Child Item

How to mount a plywood tool wall on brick?

Hello everyone,

I'm building a tool wall on a section of our garage wall, which I think is brick or could be brick veneer (it felt harder to drill into than brick veneer when I put up the bike racks).

I have prepared a 1200mm x 2100mm 18mm plywood panel with Danish oil on the external side, and I'm wondering whether I need to use any kind of backing studs to prevent moisture and, subsequently, rot? We're in Melbourne.

My thinking is that any backing will push the weight out, putting more stress on the mounting points, so my first thought was to mount it directly with dynabolts.

On a side note, if anyone has a great tool/idea for doing the tool wall layout, I'd love to hear about it.

Find more posts tagged with

Tools and Materials

Craft and Hobbies

Organising

Accepted answers

All comments

TaraL

PS I have indeed realised that the bike racks are upside down, haha

JacobZ

Hi @TaraL,

I think it is pretty safe to say this is brick, not a brick veneer.

I'd say it's fairly likely that it is single brick, which means there is no air gap or insulation that will prevent the inside of those bricks becoming cold. If the air temperature inside the garage is higher than that of the brick, then it can result in condensation forming on the brick, which can certainly cause some issues regardless of whether your plywood is oiled or not.

You might not have any issues if condensation is not currently an issue, but I'd say it would be worthwhile attaching some studs to the wall so there is an air gap behind, just to really reduce the risk. This air gap will allow any water to drain downwards and will allow airflow to dry up everything else.

I'd suggest using three pieces of 70 x 35 framing, with some plascourse attached to the back side of the timber so there is no direct contact with the brick. You can then use 75mm dynabolts, spaced at 600mm centres along the full height of each stud to attach the studs to the wall, then attach your plywood to those studs using 50mm timber screws at 450mm spacing along the full height of each stud.

Having your plywood sheeting sit 35mm out from the wall will not increase the load on the fixings to a degree that is worth worrying about. As long as there are plenty of dynabolts and plenty of screws, it's not too big of an issue.

I can't say I know of a tool for designing a tool wall, but when I have done similar things, I have found the best thing to do is to sit the board down flat and lay all the tools out and play around with them to see what I like. You can then trace their shape onto the plywood and install the relevant hardware before screwing the plywood onto your studs.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

TaraL

Hi @JacobZ,

Thank you so much for the prompt and thorough response. The wall has the neighbours garage wall behind it, so it's more than one layer and not exactly external, although the garage behind it is largely the same temperature as the outside, so it doesn't make a huge difference.

I will be following your advice regarding the studs and plascourse, that sounds like a much more future-proofed installation. It also gives me a deeper and stronger point for any heavy tools on the wall when I can attach it into the stud behind the plywood.

Thank you,

Tara

Child Item