Creating Safer Homes Together - The Wall Anchoring Guide

# Securing Your Furniture: A Step-by-Step Guide to Prevent Tip-Over Accidents

## Introduction: The Importance of Securing Your Furniture

Accidents happen in the blink of an eye, and a furniture tip-over can lead to serious injuries, especially for children and older adults. It’s crucial not to postpone securing your furniture—do it as soon as you place it in your room. This simple task takes less than 15 minutes and could prevent potential tragedies.

## Meet the Team: Introduction to the Video

Your host welcomes you and introduces their son-in-law, who will handle the practical work. While he’s not a professional handyman, he’ll guide you through the process confidently. The video is divided into three easy-to-follow steps or chapters, ensuring that even those less experienced can follow along successfully.

## What You Need: Tools and Materials

### Essential Items:

1. **Furniture**: Choose a piece like an IKEA Eden chest of drawers.

2. **Wall Anchoring Kit**: If you recently purchased your furniture, the kit is likely included. Replacement kits are available for free from IKEA if lost.

3. **Tools**: A set of basic tools will be needed, which will be detailed later in the guide.

## Identifying Your Wall Type: Stud Walls vs. Solid Walls

### Understanding Wall Types:

- **Stud Walls**: Constructed with vertical studs (wood or metal) and common materials like drywall (sheetrock), custard board, or plaster.

- **Solid Walls**: Made of brick, concrete, or other dense materials.

### Methods to Determine Wall Type:

1. **Push Pin Trick**: Test in hidden areas; if the pin easily penetrates, it’s likely drywall. Look for white powder as another indicator.

2. **Knocking**: A hollow sound suggests a stud wall, while a solid sound indicates a solid wall.

3. **Drilling Small Holes**: Check the material by drilling inconspicuously and observing the results.

4. **Ask Someone Who Knows**: Contact your landlord or consult building plans if unsure.

## Step-by-Step Guide to Anchoring Your Furniture

### Preparing to Drill:

1. **Identify Studs**:

- Use a stud finder or wall scanner to locate studs, especially near electrical outlets and pipes.

- For plaster walls, use a magnetic scanner or strong magnet.

2. **Marking the Drilling Points**:

- Move furniture towards the wall and align with the center of the stud.

- Mark both sides where the holes will be drilled.

### Drilling Holes:

- **Stud Walls**:

- Use a 3mm pilot hole for studs, then an 8mm bit for the plug.

- For thicker drywall, visit a hardware store for appropriate anchors.

- **Solid Walls**:

- Avoid locating studs; instead, scan for wires and pipes.

- Use a hammer drill with a masonry bit. Mark the drill bit length using your plug for accurate depth.

### Inserting Plugs and Securing Screws:

1. **Clean Holes**: Ensure debris is removed before inserting plugs.

2. **Insert Plugs**: Strike gently with a mallet or hammer to flush them against the wall.

3. **Attach Screws**:

- Tighten screws into plugs on one side until they expand fully.

- Secure the other side using the pilot hole.

## Conclusion: Take Action for Safety

Don’t delay securing your furniture. By following these steps, you can ensure safety and prevent potential accidents. Start anchoring today—it’s a simple task with significant benefits for your family and home.

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This guide transforms the provided transcription into a structured, easy-to-read article, ensuring all key points are covered without summarization. Each section is developed fully to provide clear, actionable advice for securing furniture safely.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi I'm so glad you found your way here today we're going to talk about securing your furniture to the wall it's actually something that's very important a tip over accident can happen in just a moment and could lead to serious injuries for both children and older people like me so don't postpone it do it as soon as you place your furniture in the room it takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish and we'll show you how in just a moment but before we get started I'd like to introduce you to my son-in-law now this guy is going to do the actual work he's not much of a handyman but he'll do just fine we've separated this video into three easy to follow steps or chapters first we're going to go through what you need wall types and how to drill anchoring it in this video we'll focus on some of the most common wall types and methods there are others but most things stay Universal just follow along and you your kids and your neighbor's cat will be safer please have a look in the description below where you'll find a link with all of this information the first thing you'll need of course is a piece of furniture like this Ikea Eden us from 2023 you'll also need a wall anchoring kit if you just bought your IKEA chest of drawers it's included in the package the exact design May differ between models but just follow the assembly instructions to attach it to the piece of furniture and you'll be all set if you've lost your anchoring kit no worries you can order a new one from Ikea for free thank you darling by the way there are gazillions of different anchoring kits out there I like this IA kit because it includes these Universal plugs or anchors that can be used on most common wall types as well as a matching pair of screws we're also going to need some tools like you'll see later in this film a couple of tools may vary depending on the type of wall you want to enter the furn okay before you start attaching anything to the walls you'll first need to know know what your walls are made of this can be a bit tricky but basically there are two main categories of walls the first ones are stud walls and the others are solid walls such as brick or concrete we'll start off with the stud walls these are walls built on a frame of vertical studs made of either wood or metal the most common variant is called drywall or sheetrock dry lining custard board and so on and this has been the most common one around here since the early 50s prior to that many homes here in the US had something called LA and plaster walls which consists of a layer of plaster applied to a wall of horizontal wood strips there were also stud walls with wood paneling what they all have in common is that you should try to get at least one of the screws into a stud if possible if you don't know your wall type you'll have to find out the first thing you can try is to push pin trick make sure to do this somewhere hidden or behind something to avoid leaving any visible marks later like you see here the pen easily penetrates the wall so we can be fairly certain that this is drywall you can also look for white powder coming from the hole that's also a good indicator of drywall if it won't go into the wall at all it's something much harder either laen plaster or a solid wall material like bricks or concrete another common way to determine what your walls are made of is by knocking on them if the sound is hollow it's made with studs make sure to always knock on a couple of different places on the wall this is because if you knock on or too close to a stud you might misinterpret this sound as a solid wall if you're still uncertain you can try drilling a small hole just to check and see what the wall looks like inside behind all the Paint and Wallpaper if you do this try to find an inconspicuous spot and don't drill too deep one last last thing you can do of course is to ask someone who might know like your landlord if you have one hello it's drywall okay so now we know this stud wall is made of drywall the next step is to find the actual studs the easiest way to do this is with a stud finder or a wall scanner to avoid drilling into wires and pipes choose a wall scanner that can Det protect those two this is especially important when working close to power outlets light switches or kitchen and bathroom walls once you find your stud Mark the center of it at the height where you want to drill the hole if you have a la and plaster wall you'll need to use a magnetic wall scanner or a strong magnet to find your studs so now the next step is to prepare to drill the holes move the furniture back towards the wall then align one of the sides to the middle of a stud and use a pencil to Mark where you'll need the hole to be then make another Mark for the hole on the other side now it's time to drill the holes start by moving the furniture away from the wall when you're Drilling in drywall you won't need a super powerful drill if you will anchor into a stud you only need to drill a smaller 3 mm pilot hole because you won't need to use a plug later for the second hole we'll use an 8 mm drill bit this way the hole will match the plug to keep the screw in place in some parts of the world it's common to use multiple layers of drywall if this is the case in your home you'll need to head off to a hardware store to get a couple of drywall anchors that are designed for thicker walls if you have a solid wall there are a couple of differences you don't have to look for any studs but you still want to scan for wires and pipes a regular drill won't be powerful enough so we need to switch to a hammer drill with a masonary drill bit like this one and here's a trick to know how deep to drill use your plug and Mark its length on the drill bit with a piece of t good huh so let's anchor our chest of drawers to the stud wall first make sure you clean out the holes then put a plug into the hole and strike it carefully with a mallet or Hammer to make sure it's flush to the wall now take one of the screws from your wall anchoring kit use a screwdriver to Anchor it into the plug be sure to tighten it thoroughly to allow the plug to expand all the way on the other side we'll just screw into the pilot hole and now it's secured great now you know everything about how to secure a chest of drawers to the wall to help prevent accidents if you have a piece of furniture that you haven't anchored to the wall don't put it off until later do it now it just takes a moment hit it now you know everything there is to know about anchoring a piece of furniturehi I'm so glad you found your way here today we're going to talk about securing your furniture to the wall it's actually something that's very important a tip over accident can happen in just a moment and could lead to serious injuries for both children and older people like me so don't postpone it do it as soon as you place your furniture in the room it takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish and we'll show you how in just a moment but before we get started I'd like to introduce you to my son-in-law now this guy is going to do the actual work he's not much of a handyman but he'll do just fine we've separated this video into three easy to follow steps or chapters first we're going to go through what you need wall types and how to drill anchoring it in this video we'll focus on some of the most common wall types and methods there are others but most things stay Universal just follow along and you your kids and your neighbor's cat will be safer please have a look in the description below where you'll find a link with all of this information the first thing you'll need of course is a piece of furniture like this Ikea Eden us from 2023 you'll also need a wall anchoring kit if you just bought your IKEA chest of drawers it's included in the package the exact design May differ between models but just follow the assembly instructions to attach it to the piece of furniture and you'll be all set if you've lost your anchoring kit no worries you can order a new one from Ikea for free thank you darling by the way there are gazillions of different anchoring kits out there I like this IA kit because it includes these Universal plugs or anchors that can be used on most common wall types as well as a matching pair of screws we're also going to need some tools like you'll see later in this film a couple of tools may vary depending on the type of wall you want to enter the furn okay before you start attaching anything to the walls you'll first need to know know what your walls are made of this can be a bit tricky but basically there are two main categories of walls the first ones are stud walls and the others are solid walls such as brick or concrete we'll start off with the stud walls these are walls built on a frame of vertical studs made of either wood or metal the most common variant is called drywall or sheetrock dry lining custard board and so on and this has been the most common one around here since the early 50s prior to that many homes here in the US had something called LA and plaster walls which consists of a layer of plaster applied to a wall of horizontal wood strips there were also stud walls with wood paneling what they all have in common is that you should try to get at least one of the screws into a stud if possible if you don't know your wall type you'll have to find out the first thing you can try is to push pin trick make sure to do this somewhere hidden or behind something to avoid leaving any visible marks later like you see here the pen easily penetrates the wall so we can be fairly certain that this is drywall you can also look for white powder coming from the hole that's also a good indicator of drywall if it won't go into the wall at all it's something much harder either laen plaster or a solid wall material like bricks or concrete another common way to determine what your walls are made of is by knocking on them if the sound is hollow it's made with studs make sure to always knock on a couple of different places on the wall this is because if you knock on or too close to a stud you might misinterpret this sound as a solid wall if you're still uncertain you can try drilling a small hole just to check and see what the wall looks like inside behind all the Paint and Wallpaper if you do this try to find an inconspicuous spot and don't drill too deep one last last thing you can do of course is to ask someone who might know like your landlord if you have one hello it's drywall okay so now we know this stud wall is made of drywall the next step is to find the actual studs the easiest way to do this is with a stud finder or a wall scanner to avoid drilling into wires and pipes choose a wall scanner that can Det protect those two this is especially important when working close to power outlets light switches or kitchen and bathroom walls once you find your stud Mark the center of it at the height where you want to drill the hole if you have a la and plaster wall you'll need to use a magnetic wall scanner or a strong magnet to find your studs so now the next step is to prepare to drill the holes move the furniture back towards the wall then align one of the sides to the middle of a stud and use a pencil to Mark where you'll need the hole to be then make another Mark for the hole on the other side now it's time to drill the holes start by moving the furniture away from the wall when you're Drilling in drywall you won't need a super powerful drill if you will anchor into a stud you only need to drill a smaller 3 mm pilot hole because you won't need to use a plug later for the second hole we'll use an 8 mm drill bit this way the hole will match the plug to keep the screw in place in some parts of the world it's common to use multiple layers of drywall if this is the case in your home you'll need to head off to a hardware store to get a couple of drywall anchors that are designed for thicker walls if you have a solid wall there are a couple of differences you don't have to look for any studs but you still want to scan for wires and pipes a regular drill won't be powerful enough so we need to switch to a hammer drill with a masonary drill bit like this one and here's a trick to know how deep to drill use your plug and Mark its length on the drill bit with a piece of t good huh so let's anchor our chest of drawers to the stud wall first make sure you clean out the holes then put a plug into the hole and strike it carefully with a mallet or Hammer to make sure it's flush to the wall now take one of the screws from your wall anchoring kit use a screwdriver to Anchor it into the plug be sure to tighten it thoroughly to allow the plug to expand all the way on the other side we'll just screw into the pilot hole and now it's secured great now you know everything about how to secure a chest of drawers to the wall to help prevent accidents if you have a piece of furniture that you haven't anchored to the wall don't put it off until later do it now it just takes a moment hit it now you know everything there is to know about anchoring a piece of furniture\n"