How would you do it?

[gromeo]

Hi All,

I've been commissioned a floor standing pallet cabinet (sort of wall partition) which will need to be around 2m tall (about 78 inch) but only 25cm deep (about 9 inch). Could you suggest any ideas on what kind of feet I could use to make sure that the cabinet doesn't tip over given the relatively narrow depth and decent heigh?

Regards
Giuseppe

 

[Myfordman]

Design in a void at the bottom and fill with concrete?

 

[bugbear]

Hi All,

I've been commissioned a floor standing pallet cabinet (sort of wall partition) which will need to be around 2m tall (about 78 inch) but only 25cm deep (about 9 inch). Could you suggest any ideas on what kind of feet I could use to make sure that the cabinet doesn't tip over given the relatively narrow depth and decent heigh?

Regards
Giuseppe

Shiny rods/bars/tubes extending to the ceiling?

What's the loading going to be? - if it's just ornaments, you're OK, but if
it's British HiFi amplifiers on the top shelf, or books, the COG will be very high.

BugBear

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A French cleat at the top?

 

[Neil S]

Yes weight at the bottom is the only way if your feet cannot stick out. If the feet are allowed to stick out, as well as adding weight, how about some 3-4mm thick by 50mm wide steel flat bar painted black and notched into the base they could stick out say 100mm each side and maybe have one every metre or so of partition?
The weight needs to be kept as low as possible for maximum stability. If it needs to be removable a way to store sand at the bottom would be Ok.
The problem is that a partition as tall as that is not going to be light especially made of pallet wood so you really don't want it falling on anyone. Can you plane / resaw the wood down in thickness to reduce the weight especially at the top where it is most tippy?

Alternatively are you allowed to make fixings to the floor? Some angle brackets screwed to the floor that could be hidden by the wall when placed on top could secure it. Without an anchor at the top however, it will have to overcome a massive 2m lever advantage.

Just some ideas

-Neil

 

[Phil Pascoe]

2mtrs high and 9" deep? You could cast the bottom two feet with concrete and still watch it fall over. Fix the top.

 

[custard]

I've been commissioned a floor standing pallet cabinet (sort of wall partition) which will need to be around 2m tall but only 25cm deep.

I once had a client who wanted floating shelves. It wasn't a good wall to fix to, I explained all this and said it would only be suitable for very light loading. "Yes, yes" they said, "we understand and agree".

Some time later I went back on another job and saw the shelves were laden with a display of Victorian weighing scales complete with cast iron and brass weights. I took a crafty phone photo because if those shelves fail you can bet they'll swear blind they only used them for storing cotton buds.

Moral of the story is that clients never listen and will always blame you if something goes wrong. In this case something going wrong could have serious consequences. On free standing tall furniture I always fit an anchor point at the back near the top for attachment to a wall, and explain in writing why it must be used.

My advice would be don't take the job unless it can be rigidly fixed.

 

[Hot stuff]

IKEA had a similar problem recently, you probably don't want that sort of thing on your conscience.
At 2metres tall it can't be very far to the ceiling so maybe a discreet vertical fixing as bugbear suggests might be the way to go?

 

[WoodMangler]

Design in a void at the bottom and fill with concrete?

Instead of concrete, fill it with dry builder's ballast and make the top removable - that way you can empty it out if you want to move the cabinet.

 

[MatthewRedStars]

2mtrs high and 9" deep? You could cast the bottom two feet with concrete and still watch it fall over. Fix the top.

This x10000000000

If the client won't let you fix the top, walk away.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's over six feet high and only nine inches deep - it doesn't matter how much weight is in the base it is likely tip over if the top is not fixed, and if the top is fixed the weight in the bottom is irrelevant. Stand a piece of solid timber of those dimensions on end and see how little effort it takes to topple it.

 

[davin]

Removable bottom shelf then fix to floor?

 

[woodbrains]

Removable bottom shelf then fix to floor?

Hello,

Nope! The turning force of something that tall will rip the screws out of the floor as if they weren't there. Fix to ceiling as said above or avoid the job altogether.

Mike.

 

[bugbear]

Don't make it look as if the fixing to the ceiling is an add-on; make it look as if they were always intended;

(I'll try to find more)

http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/2 ... h-shelves/

BugBear

 

[davin]

Depends on what fixings you use surely?

 

[woodbrains]

Depends on what fixings you use surely?

Hello,

Not really. If the floor is boards, then the thickness (depth of insertion) is limited. If the floor is substantial enough to receive extremely long fixings then they will just rip out of the bottom of the cabinet. A 9 inch span of fixings for a 2 meter high cabinet will never be adequate to counteract the tons of force that will be exerted when the cabinet topples.

I saw the aftermath of something like that happening once. It was a row of storage bays for a picture frame stock warehouse. They actually had a much wider footprint than this example, perhaps 2 feet, with fixings to a concrete floor. One decided to topple ( the fixings mostly remained in the floor, just ripped out of the timber) and the whole row went down like Dominos trapping some poor fellow under the pile.

Mike.

 

[Neil S]

I'm not a structural engineer but I think the old rule of thumb was if the wall is of uniform mass throughout you have to stop the top from moving outside the middle 1/3rd of the base or it begins to topple over. However, with a 2000mm height and only 225mm base that's not much of an angle it need to move before it starts to tip. And as I said before 2m is a massive leaver on any floor anchor. As everyone else has said you really need to immobilise the top. Perhaps you might be able to achieve 'nearly invisible' fixing if you could solidly anchor to the ceiling with some steel wire. A length of bicycle brake cable wire anchored to the ceiling might be strong enough you might also need two in a Y shape from the wall tensioned up with turn buckles. Brake cable stretches initially so would also need to be re tensioned a couple of times.
Even with something like wire there's still a huge risk in any solution that has not been properly designed if it is not an accepted 'standard' of wall construction ie the top is solidly fixed.

-Neil