Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @saffa1. It's great to have you join us and many thanks for your question.
I believe our helpful members might need some additional information in order to provide a solution for hanging your pallet bar. Would you be able to tell us what type of wall you have and possibly take some pictures of the bar you want to attach?
We look forward to hearing more about your project and offering a response to your question.
Mitchell
Thanks Mitch,
that would help wouldn’t it,
ive added a pic of the back of the bar for reference. the wall I’d like to attach this to is a plastered wall so I’m assuming I would need to mount onto the studs behind the plaster
Hi @saffa1,
Is the bar going to be completely hanging from the wall and not supported by the ground at all? Without a drawing of the final build I can only assume this is going to be a floating unit with the back attached to the wall and a serving area at right angles built onto the bottom of it.
I know it's a pain but I would remove the second top and second bottom board. This will give you access from the front to the top and bottom board on the back of this back piece. I'll suggest that you now turn it around (the side not facing us) and fix in several more screws into those backing boards top and bottom as you will use these to mount screws through into the studs. You need to make sure they are fixed well to the runners on the pallet and I wouldn't trust the nails they are fixed with now.
Once you locate your studs you'll position this back on the wall and align it with them. Access via the boards you removed and pre-drill holes in the backing boards. Use Buildex 14-10 x 100mm Climacoat Bugle Head Batten Timber Screws - 25 Pack straight through the backing board on the top and the bottom into the studs. I would suggest two screws at all four points into the studs. When done fixing the back to the wall you can then re-attach those front boards.
Please let me know if this makes sense. There are other ways you could go about doing this using brackets and the like.
Let me mention some of our helpful members @ProjectPete, @LePallet, @Yorky88 and @TedBear who might have some other ideas.
Thanks for that Mitch, a very practical and logical solution for sure. I have added a couple more images to complete the picture. my only concern with your suggestion is that those boards won’t be strong enough to support the weight, it’s probably about 25-30kg and these pallets I’ve used are not the most reliable. When I was putting it together I had initially planned to use the thicker piece right at the top as the support to hang from a couple bolts put into the studs but then I couldn’t figure out what it was that I could fasten to the board that could then attach or hang from the bolts
Hi @saffa1, you are right not to trust the construction of pallets to take the final overall weight, especially as it also involves bottles full of liquid.
My suggestion would be to firmly bolt a board to the wall, across where the bottom of the unit will sit, i.e. to sit under the unit and to take its weight.
You can fancy it up to suit. Then sit the unit on that board and screw the unit to the studs, - after screwing the back boards to the unit (if they are nailed at present), as suggested by Mitchell. Those mounting screws through the back boards will stop it from tipping forward, so don't be mean with them, but the main weight will be taken by the suggested support board just under the unit.
Maybe put some small rt angle brackets inside to firmly attach the supporting back boards (the boards with the screws that go into the studs) to the sides & centre upright, just to ensure the boards can't pull out from the body, since they could have a bit of forward-strain on them when using the drop-down table. I like your idea and we are looking forward to seeing it in its final position.
Thanks for that @TedBear, I think with yours and Mitchell’s advice I’m all sorted.
I’ll share a photo of the finished product once on the wall. I’m also starting to work on a few different pallet related pieces so no doubt I’ll be back for more help again soon. thanks again @MitchellMc
Great, thanks for letting us know that you are all sorted now @saffa1.
We are looking forward to seeing the finished result.
Great to have you join the Bunnings Workshop community. Please don't hesitate to post anytime you have something to share with the community or need a hand with a project around the house and garden.
Jason
Hi again @MitchellMc @TedBear,
im back with another question for you lads,
I’ve gone to hang the bar today (at my mom in laws) and the plan was to fasten into studs, but I was having serious difficulty today trying to find the studs I had assumed would be easy to find. So here I am asking for suggestions on how to either find the studs that I now feel like aren’t there or what other options I have? the wall is rendered polystyrene sheet cladding.
Most reliable way is to use a Stud Finder. you can get one for ~$20 at Bunnings.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/stanley-s100-stud-sensor_p5663710?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkJOxm-yn7QIV5pVLBR3MKAP7EAQYASABEgJhvvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
If you mark off the area that you intend to hang the unit, you can try to find them by tapping and feeling the difference in vibration where the wall is firmer - where the studs are. But this is often an unreliable way. If you think you can feel it, you can then drill some tiny holes in the area of the stud to check that you are on it and also find out exactly where it starts and ends by the drill going into air, either side of the stud. The tiny holes will be hidden by the unit when hung, or you can fill them.
But a stud finder will help a great deal with finding them more accurately.
Thanks @TedBear,
I was using a stud finder but to no avail, I then drilled a few 2mm holes but again to no avail which is why I now feel like there aren’t studs and am thinking it may be steel construction? Either way I am stumped
I'm not too familiar with XPS and EPS foam wall construction techniques. However, I believe they fix foam boards over the top of the house's timber or steel frame. These foam boards are between 50 and 100mm thick. This is likely too deep for your stud finder to pick up.
You can try running the stud detector over the interior side of that wall. If you can find the studs, then you could transfer those measurements onto the exterior of the wall.
Mitchell's idea sounds like a good one if that's possible to do. If not, perhaps you need to find a friend who has (or knows someone who has) a metal detector? ? There must be support somewhere for the wallboard material.
(There are some phone apps that claim to detect metal using the phone's compass, but I have yet to find one that works well.)
Thank you both @MitchellMc @TedBear again, I managed to locate the studs from inside and then cross referenced the measurements and lined up from the outside (I’m kicking myself I never thought of this first) then drilled a couple tiny holes and viola, found the studs. The issue now is that the studs are about 120mm behind the cladding. Should I be concerned and change my approach?
I am a bit confused by the description. Do you mean that there is an air gap between the cladding and the studs (which would mean that they are not holding the cladding), or is the cladding 120mm thick?
Yes there is a gap between the studs and the cladding, in this gap is a thin layer of insulation and then empty space
Now there's a problem! But you knew that.
My suggestions area) make a frame to sit the unit on, on the ground, orb) use toggle bolts and long (200 - 250mm) steel right-angle brackets. That will enable you to get 2 toggle bolts per fixing (ie each rt angle bracket) into the wall with the holes not too close to each other. (To not weaken the wall board.)Three brackets spaced across the top and two at the bottom should hold it.The top brackets would be placed to stick out where the top of the unit will be. You would then use bolts, nuts and washers to attach the unit through the top to the brackets.The bottom ones could be fitted such that they are unseen behind the unit, making sure that the bit sticking out does so where the bottom of the unit will sit. Attach by bolts, nuts & washers, or short screws since the force will be down and back toward
the wall on these brackets.Probably best to do the bottom ones first, so the unit can sit on them while you mark where the top will be. If you mark them carefully then you could hide them too, and just slide the unit in between the brackets at the end & bolt it on.You could make a simple template to help:cut a piece if lightweight timber to exact height of the unit. Mount the brackets by bolts to each end (bracket arms facing over the ends of the wood) temporarily, then remove bolts. This will give you the correct hole placements for the brackets if you hold it against the wall, on a pencil mark, where the bottom of the unit is going.I hope that suggestion description makes sense.
@saffa1,
Using toggles and brackets as @TedBear has suggested could be the best solution. There are Zenith M12 x 200mm Tech-Shield Coach Screws, but they would only really allow you to mount a 19mm thick board to the wall. Even then I'm not a great fan of only having 61 millimetres of the screw in the stud when the weight is located so far out from it.
Keep us updated.
