The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
The Practical Built In Funiture
Normally, this means cutting into the wall — into a mortar joint if you can find it; if not, into the brick or stone. Drive a wooden plug into this hole and screw into that (see Fig. 7).
Where you have a plaster wall or ceiling it sometimes happens that you have to anchor to the plaster and lathing instead of to a joist or stud. In this case, you may be able to screw into the laths, but usually it is better to drill a hole through the plaster and lath and insert a toggle bolt of the kind the nailing strip so that its weight is evenly distributed.
Always, of course, it is best to fasten this supporting strip to a ceiling joist if possible.
Ceiling cabinets are also fastened to the wall, wherever possible, through a nailing strip. See Fig. 8c. This strip usually can be nailed directly to two or more studs. If the strip is located down from the ceiling at a distance equal to the thickness of the cabinet top, the top can rest directly on it. If the cabinet has no top, it may pay to install a supporting strip — per-haps a length of 1x3 — at the rear top of the cabinet. You can usually nail through this directly into the wall plate or girt which rests on top of the studs at ceiling level. In most instances you can also use a narrow supporting strip underneath the cabinet where it will not be obvious.
Building to Bad Walls
Quite often, in erecting built-in units, it is necessary to work over walls that are cracked, bulging or otherwise damaged. Such walls, as a matter of fact, offer a direct invitation to cover them with cupboards, closets, shelves or plain boarding. However, difficulties may arise from old, crumbling plaster as work is being attached to the studs. In such cases it may pay to cover the wall, partly or wholly, with a wooden framework to which the new surface or structure may be fastened. The two standard ways of doing this are: (a) to apply furring strips to the walls and (b) to cover the wall with a new framework (studding), with or without a new wall surface attached to it. Fig. 9 shows both of these methods. The furring (Fig. 9a) is suitable only for light loads, such as wallboards that are to serve as backing for shelves or simply as wall finish. Any other load would have to be anchored solidly to the wall studs directly. When you have big loads to supPort, and where you need a particularly straight and solid surface, the new stud framing is best.
