Hey everyone! I'm renting an apartment and needed help mounting a really heavy mirror that's 7 feet tall and weighs 108 pounds. Since there were no accessible studs in the wall where I wanted to hang it, my contractor decided to use two rows of French cleats, with cleats on both the upper and lower parts of the mirror. They drilled into wall plug anchors placed into the drywall. I know that ideally, drilling into a stud would have been the best option, and I've heard that for heavy items on drywall, toggle or molly bolts are often used. However, since the French cleats help distribute the weight, I'm wondering if this setup should hold just fine? Each cleat is secured with four anchors, totaling eight anchors. Would love to hear your thoughts!
3 Answers
Make sure to check the weight ratings of your wall anchors! Standard ones can usually support around 25 to 30 pounds each, so with eight anchors, you should be safe if it's evenly distributed. Just a heads up, though: if the anchors are too close to each other, their combined capacity won't just double; it could reduce significantly.
Is the mirror already mounted? Has it stayed up so far? Just wondering because if it hasn’t fallen yet and you aren’t planning to hang things off of it or use it like a gym wall, it should be fine! But I’d be cautious if it's critical to be super secure.
If there are no studs available, you might want to double-check what’s actually supporting the drywall in that area. But considering that you're using eight anchors with those cleats, it should definitely be enough to hold the mirror, especially since you're distributing the weight evenly over the two cleats.