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I need to mount a 15-pound medicine cabinet on some old 1970's drywall. (At least the product page says it's 15 pounds, but I have a 14-pound dog and it feels considerably heavier - maybe 20/25 pounds).

The unit came with a single mounting bar that the unit sits on and three plastic anchors

The unit is only 20 inches across and it only spans one stud which does not line up with the pre-drilled holes.

Is it safe to use just these three plastic anchors to support this unit on drywall this old? Perhaps just throw an extra screw into the stud?

Or should I go with something like a Snap Toggle, which I have never used but I think I understand how to install?

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    Drywall should not get soft/crumbly unless humid/got wet/punched. A nice 1x4 stained and screwed to a couple of studs, should be enough to hold it solidly. You do not want to trust soft/crumbly drywall to hold anything(including paint/posters)
    – crip659
    Commented Nov 7 at 23:46
  • But then the medicine cabinet will not sit flush to the wall, right? It will stick out visibly and the 1x4 will need to be wider than the width of the medicine cabinet and so will show quite a bit. Any way to get a cleaner look?
    – AdamG
    Commented Nov 7 at 23:49
  • french cleat on drywall, not sure if i'd trust that even with only one screw into a stud.
    – Jasen
    Commented Nov 8 at 0:15

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This cabinet uses a wall cleat. If that cleat is secure then the cabinet will be secure. If it is not secure then the whole thing will come crashing down when you least expect it.

Two options:

One Stud

Drill a hole in the cleat lined up with a stud. The catch is you have very little height to work with, as you can't put a screw through the angled part (because then the cabinet won't fit on it properly). Which means you can really only put in one screw. Use a nice big cabinet/construction screw, not a drywall screw. (Drywall screws are for attaching drywall to studs. They work perfectly fine for plenty of other light-duty things but they are far from ideal for hanging cabinets, especially when you can only use one screw.)

The screw should be long enough to get through the cleat, the 1/2" (likely) of drywall and at least an inch into the stud. Which means probably a 2-1/2" or 3" screw.

Then use anchors for the other positions just to keep it from rotating, though snap toggles or similar would be much better than simple drywall anchors.

Add Backing Wood

Mark an inch or so in from the left and right sides, all around, where the cleat will be mounted. Cut a rectangle of drywall out. For ease of access, probably cut down several inches below, but not above because the cabinet hangs at the very top.

Now you have access to the wall. Add additional wood (2x4 is perfect but you can use something a bit smaller to make it easier to get it through the hole and mounted) to span between studs at the height of the cleat so that you can put screws through all three holes of the cleat. Put the drywall back in. Patch/paint? I wouldn't bother, but if you think this is "temporary" and might be exposed in the future then do at least a basic drywall patch job.

Install the cleat with screws into the new backing wood.

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  • yes, adding the blocking is a good idea, screws are a good way to connect the blocking to the studs, so long as the hole is big enough that you can reach in there with your screw gun,
    – Jasen
    Commented Nov 8 at 0:21
  • How big a risk do you think the "One Stud" solution is?
    – AdamG
    Commented Nov 8 at 0:43
  • Hard to say. Definitely a lot better than just anchors. And if you use snap toggles or similar for the other two holes then you should be OK.
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented Nov 8 at 0:58

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