Wall cabinets are screwed together to form
a group, a hole is drilled for under cabinet lighting, the cabinets are
lifted into position, leveled, and screwed to the studs
Skill Level:
3 (Moderate) By
Bruce W. Maki, Editor Time Taken:
About 3 Hours
There are at least two major schools of thought regarding cabinet
installation.
Some say to install the wall cabinets first, others say to install the base
cabinets first.
On this job I did the latter.
Install First:
Pro's:
Con's:
Base Cabinets
Can use counter as stage for lifting wall cabinets into place.
More room available for installing counter
Can stand on counter.
Best if counter is installed right away.
Can be a problem if counter is special ordered, such as Corian, which
cannot even be ordered until base cabinets are installed.
Wall Cabinets
If two or more people are available to lift cabinets, this way can be
fastest.
Easy to whack your head on wall cabinets while installing the bases.
I find that the best way to install wall cabinets is to fasten a group
together on the ground and then
raise the unit into place. Of course you will need to prop these up while
attaching to the wall.
First Step: Connect Several Cabinets Together
I pre-drill holes in the face frames and drive
2½" deck screws into the adjacent unit's face frame, just like on these base
cabinets. I use "Quick-Grip" style clamps to hold cabinets together while
fastening.
The wall cabinets were initially joined only at
the face frames, but that left the rear ends able to flop around. So I
installed a little scrap of 1/2" plywood as a spacer.
On this job I used a hydraulic bottle
jack to raise the cabinet assembly into place. There are many ways of
rigging up fixtures to hold cabinets in place. I have used stacks of paint
cans. Having a helper simply hold the cabinet while I drive a few screws
has never really worked for me, although it can be faster. I often remove
the cabinet doors to make the unit lighter and keep them out of my way.
Before anything else was done, I use a 4' level to draw lines on the
wall where the tops of the cabinets will go.
Then I used a stud finder to locate the structure, and marked
the stud locations just above the line.
Next Up... A Little Complication
This kitchen had wiring for under-cabinet lighting. The
wires were just dangling from the holes in the drywall.
I drilled a 3/8"
hole in the bottom rear lip of the cabinet, at a point that would line up
with wire.
Of course, I checked to make sure the wire was not live.
Furthermore, the drywall crew had just popped a hole at some
random location. The hole was too high for the bottom of these cabinets, so
I used a drywall saw to cut a notch.
The wire was then able to reach the
proper altitude. The notch will be hidden behind the cabinet.
I set the cabinet assembly on the counter. The
green board is a "load spreader" that I fastened to the bottom
of this unit.
This board is necessary so the hydraulic jack has a sturdy
surface to push on.
While this whole process may seem like a waste of time, keep in mind that I
had no helpers,
and the homeowner had left the building.
I placed some blocks of wood under the assembly.
I lifted
the unit higher and placed large buckets underneath. Then the hydraulic jack
would fit.
There were actually a few intermediate steps of
lifting and block positioning in between the above photos.
I realized then that I should have brought along my floor jack, the
kind for lifting cars.
It could lift the cabinets when they were raised by only 4 inches.
When the cabinet was in place, I fished the wire through the
hole.
I used these big 3-1/2" cabinet mounting screws to attach the
cupboards to the studs.
With the cabinet resting securely on temporary supports, I
drilled holes in the back panel and drove screws into the studs.
After
driving 10 or 12 screws the 3-unit assembly is installed, and the temporary
supports were removed.
The screws at the top are much more critical than the
screws at the bottom, because the weight of the cabinet tries to pull the
top screws straight out (they are "in tension") while the bottom screws
are placed under shear stress, which the screws resist quite well.
I make sure to drive a screw into every stud along the top and bottom
rail. If any screw does not seem to "bite" well, I add another screw,
inside the cabinet, on the same stud.
Never use nails to install cabinets.
This article is from hammerzone.com
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