I have a large entertainment center that needs to be mounted to 5/8" drywall with metal studs. The entertainment center weighs about 180lbs by itself. In addition, I'll have a tv flush mounted, pictures, books, and surround speakers on/in the entertainment center. I plan on using strap toggles for all of the anchor points. There are 6 brackets holding the entertainment center to the wall, with two anchor points (screws) holding each bracket in. My question is; if I use toggle straps for each anchor point (12 in total), and each toggle strap is rated to hold up to 70lbs; will that be enough to hold everything? In other words, will the weight be dispersed across all the toggle straps, so that each is holding well less than 70lbs? ...Also, should I be concerned about the structural integrity of the wall? There won't be much weight coming out from the wall; no swivel mount, just shelves that are about 12 inches deep; so we're talking mostly shear force.
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Crafts project. Mix Elmer's Glue 50/50 with water. Soak newspaper strips in it. Get chalkboard chalk, and wrap it with the wet newspaper strips. Let dry. You just made drywall. Now go to Home Depot and look at broken drywall bits... notice how real drywall is much crumblier than chalk.– Harper - Reinstate MonicaDec 13, 2018 at 18:26
1 Answer
So this entertainment center is actually all hanging from the wall, not sitting on the floor and anchored to the wall to protect from tip-over? If so, given the weight (perhaps 250 lbs. but the time you are done with everything), I would NOT rely on drywall anchors of any type but would much prefer to anchor directly into the metal studs. Getting into metal studs is not as easy as wood studs (e.g., 2x4s) but it can be done and is quite secure. One method is to use some wood (either a rectangle of plywood or two strips of lumber) and secure that wood to multiple studs and then you can use screws to hang pretty much anything on the wood. That is routine for telephone/network equipment (not because of weight but in order to have a large area to connect things to, many of which are too narrow to necessarily hit any studs for mounting) and will work quite well here too. As far as "looks", if some of the wood will be visible, paint or stain it to match the entertainment center and nobody will notice.
If the anchoring of the entertainment center is only to prevent tipping over, a few ordinary anchors will do just fine, even if they can't hold the full weight (because they don't need to).
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Yes, the entertainment center is actually hanging on the wall. My question is really, will strap toggles into metal studs be enough? I know at least one of the two anchor points in, at least, three of the brackets (think 3 brackets in a vertical line), hopefully one anchor point in all 6 brackets, will be in a stud. But is that enough. I'm thinking that 3, possibly 6, anchor points into metal studs, with 5/16 strap toggles, should be sufficient...even if the other 6 anchor points are just in the 5/8 dry wall also with 5/16 strap toggles. Would you agree?– AlexJ85Dec 13, 2018 at 17:05
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I agree but if it was me I'd probably go with wood mounted to studs and everything else mounted to the wood. Dec 13, 2018 at 17:09
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If I go with the wood mounted to the studs, would you still drill through the wood and drywall and use toggles for the brackets?– AlexJ85Dec 13, 2018 at 17:11
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No. I would just use a bunch of strong screws through wood and drywall. Dec 13, 2018 at 17:30
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1Also the plywood's ability to span. That allows you to mount the plywood positively on joists for the structural tie-in, giving you a margin for error when you mount the unit to the plywood. Dec 13, 2018 at 18:39