How to anchor furniture to the wall to prevent tipping?

[damian22]

Hi all, I need to secure a large bookshelf to our living room wall - which is plasterboard - to prevent it tipping over if a child climbs on it. It's the Kallax 182x182cm bookshelf from Ikea which is quite heavy - about 80kg. Once you take our skirting boards into account, the back of the shelf sits 3cm from the wall.

I have a packet of these furniture straps: https://www.bunnings.com.au/dreambaby-child-safety-furniture-wall-safety-strap-2-pack_p4210842?regio...

But the screws supplied inside are 50mm - is this too long to go into plasterboard?

Also, what sort of anchor or wall plug would I need to use? Or if it’s going into the stud, are wall anchors not required? In store, I was recommended these: https://www.bunnings.com.au/ramset-6-x-38mm-universal-anchor-6-pack_p2260441

...but I was a little unsure. I'll end up with double the amount of screws I need and the screws in that pack are just as long, and quite a lot longer than the anchor - so are the screws designed to stick out from the wall? That's not what I want.

Alternatively - the Ikea kit did include two wall brackets, which could theoretically be placed in this sort of way:

But I'm unsure if this would be sufficient for the weight of the bookshelf - perhaps four would be needed? - or what kind of screw/wall anchor combo I'd need for this option.

Could anyone offer advice on the best solution?

Cheers

Damian

[damian22]

Alright. Confession time. 

The drill was in reverse. 

No wonder I was having such a hard time 😂 Absolute rookie mistake, and highly embarrassing, but if it helps someone else to feel better about their own DIY fail then it’s worth it. 

So @Dave-1, you’re the MVP, for double-checking I was doing the basics.

And yes, the bookcase is now successfully (and hopefully securely) attached to the wall. 

 

I will say though, those screws still made hard work of going in. I had to drill a pilot hole for all of them, and I gave up trying to get them in any further on this particular strap - they simply refused to budge, and my Phillips head bit kept slipping.

I figured it would still anchor pretty well and I do actually want to be able to remove them in the future if need be, so I stopped at that point. 

Thanks for all your help, everyone!

I do wonder if, in hindsight, it would have been simpler to get those brackets @EricL mentioned and drive one hefty screw into each stud rather than having to drill three smaller holes as required by the DreamBaby straps. Anyway, let’s hope the next project is smoother.

 

[Dave-1]

Morning @damian22 

Welcome to rookie mistakes, we all do them and yep I made one on the weekend, didnt drill a pilot hole through old timber far enough and then split the timber. 😕 Like I said "We all do them"

and as to the hindsight, it may have been easier, you were potentially going into hatrdwoodand maybe the pilot holes wernt as deep or filled with sawdust. Easy to look back and go mmmm. Its secure Breath a sigh and onwards to the next project!

Dave