Fixing a heavy radiator to plasterboard partition wall

[ThinkAboutIt]

Hi,
Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

I am looking at removing a steel radiator and replacing it with a vertical wall mounted one. My problem is most of these things weigh around 70kg. Do I have to pull the wall apart to brace it or can I attach a sheet of ply to the wall and fix the radiator to it?

I think the brackets will hit a stud on one side.

Many thanks

 

[seco services]

Just use plasterboard fixings.
Never had one fail yet.

 

[gasman26]

I would use umbrella fixings though

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• gasman26
• 18 Jul 2011
• 1

 

[petit_pablo]

Umbrella fixings as a minimum.

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• gasman26
• 18 Jul 2011
• 1

 

[cumbriahandyman]

70 kg = 154 lbs.

Plasterboard alone will not support that weight. Irrespective of the fixings used.

 

[gasafengineer]

Cut the plaster out between studs & fix a timber across where brackets are being fixed , wouldn't even trust a toggle bolt holding that weight.

 

[Homesafe]

Your original idea was the best, sheet of ply screwed to noggings then rad goes ontop.

 

[Beerlover]

Remove the other side of the wall and screw ply to the plasterboard from the rad side, making sure the ply fits from the floor up! The only way it will ever hold up and what we planned for in new builds.

 

[muggles]

Studs or plywood, wouldn't want to hang it off the board

 

[ThinkAboutIt]

Ok so the general concensus is the piece of ply wood on the exterior, as long as I screw into a couple of noggins should do the trick? The extra board will ofcourse be painted the same colour and the rad on top so hopefully wouldn't even spot it. I would use something like the umbrella fixing also.

Don't really want to be cutting open the wall!!

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Homesafe]

Cut a peice of ply a little smalle than rad and then cut out the plasterboard behind with that board size and fit into the cutout, easier to find noggins that way also .

 

[Beerlover]

At 70kg I'm guessing it is a cast iron flat panel type. These don't come cheap, but if you cannot budget for a days work for a plasterer to fix it correctly - money wasted. Ply does not paint well, will not give the minimalist look, I imagine, you are after. But hey, give it a go and redo it later.

 

[DP]

Try putting the bracket on a stud, if both brackets catch the stud, much better. Or even get a radiator which has same distance between brackets as between wall studs. Else frame the wall behind the plasterboard

 

[cumbriahandyman]

How many brackets are there, I am guessing two at top and two at bottom. All four need to go into something solid.

 

[Whitespirit66]

As said before, there is no way I would hang anything near this kind of weight on plasterboard with plasterboard fittings. 70kgs plus the weight of water inside. Have done it with very small single rads, but I Araldited the brackets to the wall as well.

Neatest and safest way is to cut out a couple of pieces of plasterboard behind where the brackets will go, but a noggin between the studs in each hole, replace the plasterboard cut outs, and fill the cuts with fine filler. Because the filling is behind the rad, even if it's not 100% perfect, it won't notice.

Same principle as on this video, just bigger holes.