Get Elfa carrying rail up with irregular studs in the wall

[Lemonlizzie]

We just moved into a house from 1938 and would like to install our Elfa system with a top track on a wall. The problem is that it seems to be tretex in the wall and the studs we've detected with a stud finder are at uneven distances, while the Elfa track has pre-drilled holes at 15-centimeter intervals. Does anyone have tips on a clever way to secure the top track (or should we just give up, tear down the wall, and replace the material with something more stable?)

 

[BirgitS]

Do you know how the walls are constructed?
If there are plank walls on the inside, it's very good to attach things to the planks.

But many replace tretex with plasterboard, and if you do that, you can embed cross braces (kortlingar) right where the support beam is to be mounted.

 

[Lärospånet]

The easiest way is to drill holes in the molding yourself in the right places. That's what I did and it works perfectly for normal loads.

 

[Lemonlizzie]

Do you know how the walls are constructed?
If there is a plank wall inside, then it is very good to fasten things to the planks.

But many replace tretex with plasterboard and if you do that, you can embed cross braces (blockings) exactly where the load-bearing beam is to go up.

I unfortunately don't think there's a plank wall inside; it's quite a thin wall... We'll have to think about whether we should remove the tretex!

 

[Lemonlizzie]

The easiest is to drill holes in the strip at the right places yourself. That's what I did and it works excellently for normal loads.

Smart suggestion! The plan is to have books on the shelf, mainly, so we want it to be able to hold a fairly heavy load, but we'll have to calculate a bit on the number of studs, etc.

 

[egge80]

Can't you first screw up a nice painted board that you screw into the beams and then screw your elfa list into it?

 

[Lemonlizzie]

Can't you screw up some nice painted board first that you screw into the studs and then screw your elfa strip into?

Clever! But then the support strip and strips would end up a bit away from the wall, right? Feels like there's a risk that everything will become crooked...

 

[egge80]

Absolutely, you can do the same with the lists, but then maybe it becomes too complicated...

 

[BirgitS]

You can also have a strip at the bottom that holds the hanging rails away from the wall so they become vertical. You don't need support behind the entire hanging rails; it's enough at the bottom.

 

[A-Man_08]

Drill into the tretex and see what you encounter afterwards, it's quite common for it to be placed on raw boards.

 

[Lemonlizzie]

Drill into the tretex and see what you find afterwards, it's quite common that it was placed on rough boards.

Thank you, you were right! We had looked in smaller holes and only saw tretex - but when we drilled, we noticed that there are planks at the bottom.

 

[A-Man_08]

Thank you, you were right! We had checked in smaller holes and only saw tretex - but when we drilled we noticed there are planks at the bottom.

Then just screw directly in; you might hit a nail from the plank, but you can hear it if you tap with, for example, a small screwdriver in the hole. You can mark and drill with a smaller 2-3mm bit beforehand if you want to be sure, but you can probably just go ahead.