Had my new French cleat system pull right off the wall last night

I spent all Saturday building this nice custom French cleat setup for my workshop, got it all level and mounted with what I thought were good screws into studs. Last night I hung my heaviest tool bag on it and the whole thing came crashing down around 9 PM. Turns out I only caught about half an inch of stud on one side and missed completely on the other because I was too lazy to use a stud finder. Now I've got three holes in the drywall to patch and a chipped circular saw blade from the fall. Anybody else learned this lesson the hard way or am I the only dummy here?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_phoenix28d ago

Expensive wall art" got me. I used to think stud finders were overkill but not anymore.

anna98328d ago

Stud finders exist for a reason. French cleats are great but they need solid anchoring or they are just expensive wall art. That half inch of stud was never gonna hold much weight, especially with a heavy tool bag. Drywall anchors would have been better than missing the stud altogether. Hopefully the circular saw blade is the only expensive casualty, those can get pricey to replace. Live and learn, just like I did when my spice rack took down a section of pantry wall last year.