The wall units should line up with the same size unit below. Sometimes the design is such that some will not line through because different door widths have been used but where they do line up a plumb line needs to be drawn up the wall and used as a starting point to mark off the unit sizes.

gypsum plasterboard

The height of the units have been determined by the height of any tall housing units or by the height of the tiles below. A spirit level now needs to be used to transfer a line around to wherever there are wall units.

Now the position of the plates on the wall need to be worked out to allow the units to hang at the correct height. A good way to start is to take a unit and adjust the bracket to its half way position then measure from the top of the cabinet to the underside of the hook. Then transfer this measurement to the wall starting at the drawn line on the wall showing the tops of the wall units and measuring down.

A tip here. When fixing into lightweight thermalite blocks a normal plastic plug does not hold very well so it is a good idea to use either 75m/m or 100m/m frame fixings. These have a full length plug and the expansion takes place a lot deeper into the block resulting in less chance of the fixing being pulled out.

Only use the two outer holes and drill the holes down at around 30 degrees and splaying outwards. As most of the forces on the bracket are straight down the fixings, by sloping downward, will resist being pulled out.

If the wall units are to be fitted onto a stud wall the chances of the hanging plate being in the same position as the wooden stud is very remote but there are a couple of ways to get over this.

Firstly a continuous hanging plate can be used. This comes in 2 or 3 meter lengths with holes and slots along the whole length so all that is needed is to cut it to the correct length and put it at the same height as the individual ones and screw into every stud it passes over.

If at the end there is no stud to secure it then fit a high load plasterboard fixing called a hollow wall anchor. This has expanding legs that open up behind the plasterboard to help spread the load.

Secondly a section of plasterboard can be removed to allow 12m/m plywood to take the place of the plasterboard and the plates fixed to this. This method is messy and takes longer but is a solution if no continuous hanging plate is available. The plywood must be strongly secured to the studs.

Thirdly, similar to the plywood solution, remove a larger amount of plasterboard and fit noggins (horizontal pieces of studding fitted between the vertical studs) at the correct height and re plasterboard.

Tip. To make sure the hook rests firmly on the wall plate it is advisable to actually chisel away some of the side of the unit, being careful not to break out through the face to allow the wall plate to run past where it needs to be, so that when on the wall there will be a little left and right movement to line the cabinet up without the hook falling off the wall plate. I have never seen anyone else do this but I highly recommend you do.

One very important thing to look out for when fixing the wall unit plates to the wall is to look below to see if there are any sockets below or nearby. If there are I suggest you find the cables in the wall to be sure you miss them. One way to do this is to carefully chisel the wall away, about 150mm below the bracket position so that is far enough away to not affect the strength of the fixing but close enough to accurately mark the wire position as it passes underneath the bracket position.

The hanging bracket plate that fixes to the wall usually has 3 slotted holes. Usually the bracket position can be adjusted to be able to use two of the three slots. When drilling the holes angle the drill away from the wire for extra security.

Sometimes, as there is only a limited space at the back of a wall unit, you can only trim away a maximum of 10mm so if the wall is running out of plumb by more than that, the wall unit will need to come off the wall to level it.

It is sometimes possible to trim the maximum off the unit and then take away some plaster on the wall to make it right. If there is a problem getting the wall unit right the back may need to be moved further into the unit which will involve taken the unit apart if it is a flat pack unit or if it is a rigid unit then the back will need to be cut out and a new back cut to fit the inside size of the unit.

Sometimes if the layout allows, it may be a better option to move the base units slightly to enable everything to line up. At times like this it is down to what the customer wants and the various options can be explained as well as any additional costs which may have a bearing on the final outcome.

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