A Mounting Problem

I got the cabinets painted and ready to hang but I ran in to a few problems. First, due to the rain last night, and the ever present fog, the paint still has not dried even after 36 hours. It is still very tacky in some places. I think if it had been the in the house it would have dried, but being in the garage it was just too moist. The other problem is they are too heavy for me to safely hang by myself (I’m am formulating a plan to do it myself – stay tuned). I’m too worried I’ll lose my balance and they will go crashing out a window or damage my - uh, hmm – beautiful plaster.

However, I was able to get the mounting cleats up. Each cabinet will be held up by two pieces of wood (cleats) screwed to the wall with 3-inch stainless steel screws. The top part of the cleat has a 45-degree angle cut on it angled towards the wall. The cabinet has a matching pair of cleats with opposing 45-degree angle cuts. As I hang the cabinet on the wall cleats the two opposing cuts will pull the cabinet towards the wall. I will then add a few more 3-inch screws for good measure.

Wall Cleats

Cabinet Cleats

The walls in my house, even though they are plaster, are actually solid wood. I think it is a somewhat unique method of plaster as I’ve never heard of it being done like this anyplace else. What this means, though, is that I can drive a screw just about anyplace and hit solid wood. I did make sure I hit a stud on each cabinet for piece of mind.

In other news, I received the user’s manual form my planer that I ordered from Sears. There is a method to adjust the rollers in the manual. I was able to make the adjustment and the planer seems to working much better. I’m going to give it a good workout tomorrow, so I’ll know for sure if I was successful then. It is funny that every time I order a part from Sears the part arrives about a week before the friendly letter arrives confirming my order. They should save the stupid letters and give me a discount on the part.