Advice Needed Corner Cabinet Fell Off Wall

[badactor]

Hi
Just looking for some advice.
Had some new kitchen units fitted back in October last year and this morning the corner unit fell out of the wall, smashed our induction hob, damaged our solid laminate worktop and put a dent in the dishwasher door.
Luckily there was no-one in the vicinity when it fell including our dog.

I notified the fitter of a problem with the cabinet coming away from the wall on the 3rd March saying I had concerns about this and sent pictures.
Several promises to come round and take a look came to nothing and eventually the cabinet fell out this morning.
As you can see, there were hardly any items in the cabinet that's smashed on the floor ( the picture is exactly as it was after falling.)
The corner unit had a few items inside but again, not tins or anything with excessive weight.

The fixings used were Brown Gripit alongside 1.5 inch screws into red rawlplugs.
The wall is hollow plasterboard with a cardboard honeycomb filling.

First picture shows the fittings used.
The last two pictures are the ones I sent to him on 3rd March when I first raised my concerns.

He has come round this afternoon to take a look and said he will have to raise a claim on his insurance.

Is this a complete bodge as to how this corner cabinet has been installed?

Just wanted some professional opinions on this and also to understand what the process is for him claiming on his insurance.
He was unsure himself as he has not had to do it before.

Thanks

[ayjay]

The fixings used were Brown Gripit alongside 1.5 inch screws into red rawlplugs.

Is that cos he couldn't get two Gripits side by side? What did he think the red rawlplugs would do?



The last two pictures are the ones I sent to him on 3rd March when I first raised my concerns.

Did you not think to prop it up with something? (Even a pile of books would have helped).


Is this a complete bodge as to how this corner cabinet has been installed?


Imo yes: however, Gripits, (I've never used one) will take that amount of weight, but I'd still never hang a kitchen cabinet on them. The Rawlplug next to the Gripit, may have compromised the integrity of the plasterboard close to the Gripit allowing it to fail. The brackets used are also available as long lengths which could have given a much better fixing, (more fixings over a larger area).

[Rorschach]

He should have known better, those fixings were never going to hold for long.

As an aside though, you could have avoided some of this trouble. As soon as you saw the cupboard coming away from the wall you should have acted, you had a chance to stop this.

Make sure his claim covers the cost of re-fitting all the other wall cabinets too.

[London mike 61]

These https://images.app.goo.gl/E7mBFgjTmgK3xqxe7 are the rails that Ayjay mentioned in his reply to your post. You can get a fixing through the wooden studs in the wall which will be solid and eliminates the need for grippits.
If the wall behind was brick and the plasterboard was dot and dabbed , then the fitter should have used corefix fixings that are designed for dot and dabbed walls.
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZpzN395ztHJmSsvb7

Mike

[wine~o]

These https://images.app.goo.gl/E7mBFgjTmgK3xqxe7 are the rails that Ayjay mentioned in his reply to your post. You can get a fixing through the wooden studs in the wall which will be solid and eliminates the need for grippits.
If the wall behind was brick and the plasterboard was dot and dabbed , then the fitter should have used corefix fixings that are designed for dot and dabbed walls.
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZpzN395ztHJmSsvb7

Mike

Second link seems wrong London mike

Otherwise agree with above, I might trust gripit fixings with a shelf, but never a wall cabinet...

[Razor]

Eggbox walls are a nightmare to fix too. Try using those fixings with a boiler!

[London mike 61]

Second link seems wrong London mike


Bloody web, it never seems to post what I want

[Job and Knock]

The fixings used were Brown Gripit alongside 1.5 inch screws into red rawlplugs.
The wall is hollow plasterboard with a cardboard honeycomb filling.....

....Is this a complete bodge as to how this corner cabinet has been installed?

I'm with AyJay on this - a complete and utter bodge. Incompetent. The weights that can be loaded into kitchen cabinets combined with how far off the wall they project means that quite substantial fixings are absolutely necessary. It is difficult to achieve this in a Paramore wall (plasterboard with cardboard egg box core) and I therefore feel that your fitter should have made you aware of the situation before attempting the fitting.

[badactor]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

When I questioned why he hadn't fitted a brace (after the event) which is what he said he would do when he did the initial survey he said it was because of the egg box core.
Challenged him about why he had used brown GripIt fixings and he said the chap who sold them to him said they would be fine.
Hmmmm...
Should have been blue but ayjay hit the nail on the head concerning the red plug weakening the GripIt fix. That does look like exactly what's happened.
Yes, I should have acted immediately on seeing the cabinet coming away from the wall but as the fitter had merely said he would come round and have a look at some point I figured it wasn't an imminent disaster waiting to happen.

During the kitchen installation he also cut out the wrong size hole in the solid laminate worktop for the induction hob I had bought so we had to spend an extra £200 to get a bigger one to fit. He got distracted when another contractor called round and he had to go to another job hence the error.
Not easy ripping out 3 lengths of biscuit jointed worktop after the event to replace the piece with the wrong size hole.

To be fair, he's a decent guy and I'm not going to crucify him over this and he did offer a days labour for anything else we needed doing to cover the extra expense of the larger hob.
The other cabinets are fitted into plasterboard over breeze block and he said they would be ok. It might be prudent to draw something up with him concerning future problems that might occur with the fixing of those other cabinets though. Is that reasonable?

Thanks again.

[big-all]

if i am unsure about the construction or strength if its egg box i will dislodge or make a hole in surrounding seperation paper where possible via the fixing hole and not be happy till half a tube off no nails fils the area giving a much better footprint to spread and reinforce any weaknesses

[badactor]

if i am unsure about the construction or strength if its egg box i will dislodge or make a hole in surrounding seperation paper where possible via the fixing hole and not be happy till half a tube off no nails fils the area giving a much better footprint to spread and reinforce any weaknesses

That's a very good idea that.

[dewaltdisney]

Personally, I would always worry about it. I would be inclined to take out the egg box wall and reconstruct with a stud wall and engineer in some beefy wood to take the cabinet fittings.I know this sounds a lot of work but if you do the removal of the egg box (10 minutes) a good chap would easily build a stud wall and sheet it in a day. All the existing services could be let in to the original positions so you do not have to mess too much with them.

I would never trust a wall like that, they should be banned for use in homes and used only for office partitions.

DWD


DWD

[Argyll]

If he really needed to fit gripits I would have attached a 6x1 piece of timber to the plaster board using several blue gripit's spread evenly across the timber and then attached the cabinet to that using a french cleat system. It would have least spread the weight of the cabinet evenly across it's length. Not ideal but better than what he had done.

He could have used GeeFix fixings which apparently are stronger but I've never used them myself.

https://www.geefix.com/shop/geefix-plas ... d-fixings/

I've never seen an 'egg box' wall. What is it?

[Job and Knock]

I've never seen an 'egg box' wall. What is it?

"Paramount" system (I stated Paramore above, ruddy autocorrect got me) - still commonly used in office partitions, portable buildings, etc. Was used quite a bit in the 1950s to 1970s in public sector housing as well as some private developments. Comprises two layes of plasterboard with a central core of eggbox card glued in between (modern versions can have mineral wool or fibreglass instead). Comes as complete wall sections and fits into pre-fixed steel tracks on the floor and ceiling so very fast to install