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Hello everyone,
Looking for some advice on mounting to steel studs.
Recently I completed my first DIY project building a floating desk to fit into a small nook in my apartment.
Just like many apartments, the wall the desk mounts to has steel studs.
I used a combination of heavy duty toggle bolts on the top mounting point of the angle bracket to the steel stud and tek screws to fix the middle and bottom mounting holes of the angle brackets to the studs. I followed advice online and from looking at the height of standard desks to mount the desk so the top of the desk is at 750mm height.
After using the desk for a week or so I've realised that 750mm uncomfortable but usable for me but even worse so for my wife.
So after taking the measurements and trialing different heights from our at-work desks, turns out that we need to drop the desk height 20mm to be at a comfortable middle ground for us both.
Seems easy enough to do, my only concern is using the toggle bolts again in the steel stud, as these require a 13mm hole.
If I was to drill through the steel stud again at 730mm height it would mean that I would only have about 7-10mm of stud in between the initial hole in the stud and the new hold in the stud.
Would this compromise the structural integrity of the steel stud? leading to the toggle bolts and leverage from the desk shearing away that gap? or should i instead opt for tek screws for all 9 mounting holes?
Alternatively, do I look at elongating the top mounting hole on the bracket by 20mm so i can lower the brackets by 20mm without need to re-drill the stud for a new toggle anchor. and then simply re-drill the tek screws into the remaining mounting holes?
And if that's the best solution, how would i go about doing that? would a round file be able to take away that amount of material or would I need to look at drilling the bracket?
Apologies for all the questions! Appreciate any assistance or tips you might have on this!
Brackets (same bracket but the longer version i cant seem to find online): https://www.bunnings.co.nz/carinya-300-x-250-x-20mm-studio-bracket-white_p3961601
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Callumoze. It's great to have you join us, and many thanks for the question about mounting to steel studs.
I suggest going with drilling new holes in the brackets 20mm above their current location and using the existing stud holes. I think you'll find drilling new holes in the bracket will be easier than trying to elongate the current ones. Since you've already placed holes in the studs, I'd recommend using them if possible.
If this method that you've mentioned works, then happy days. I'm just a bit concerned with you moving those holes in the studs; you're compromising the steel since the new holes would be close.
Don't hesitate to let me know if you have further questions.
Mitchell
