Prevent serious injury by securing dressers to the wall before your child begins to explore.
A toddler's increasing motor coordination coupled with abundant curiosity makes a dresser a ladder to his goal, sometimes with tragic consequences. Of the nearly 200,000 furniture tip-over incidents between 1990 and 2007 involving children ages 6 and under, 300 were fatal. Secure heavy dressers to your walls in just five to 10 minutes, using a few hand and power tools and the right fasteners, to prevent injury or save a child's life and give you peace of mind.
Instructions
1. Measure the dresser from the right side to the left side. Cut a 2-by-1/2-inch piece of fine hardwood to that same length to make a brace. Match your dresser wood if possible.
2. Smooth the wood using coarse through extra-fine belts on your sander, or sand by hand, which will take a lot longer. Apply two coats of clear acrylic sealant, allowing it to dry overnight between coats, if your dresser has a natural finish. Use whatever product most matches your dresser finish if it has been stained, varnished, lacquered or painted.
3. Knock on the wall until you find a place that sounds hollow. Place your stud finder against that spot so that it can calibrate itself. Move it from left to right, stopping to mark the stud when it beeps, lights up or otherwise signals a change in wall density.
4. Center your dresser over two or more studs, depending on its length. Draw a light pencil line across the studs from left to right, using your dresser as a straight edge. Move your dresser out of the way while you continue.
5. Position the cut and finished hardwood brace with its 2-inch wide side against the wall and its top edge 1 inch above the pencil line. Drill two 1/16-inch diameter pilot holes at each end of the hardwood, 1 inch apart vertically, through the board and into the studs. Secure the brace to the studs using 1 1/2-inch long, #6 drywall screws.
6. Move the dresser back into position so that each end is flush with each end of the brace you just attached to the wall. Position two or more evenly-spaced metal L-shaped wall mounts on the dresser top, flush against the wall, with one foot pointing up the wall and the other foot pointing toward you.
7. Mark the positions of each hole in each bracket and move them aside. Drill holes through the brace at the marked positions and into the wall, the same diameter as your molly bolts.
8. Reposition each L-shaped wall mount and secure them to the dresser top using 1/2-inch long, #6 drywall screws. Insert molly bolts through the holes in each wall mount. Tighten the screws in each molly bolt all the way to ensure that the collar collapses completely, which ensures that the bolt cannot work loose.
Tags: your dresser, 2-inch long, 2-inch long drywall, against wall, drywall screws, foot pointing