Fastening of fireplace mantel in old house


  #1  
Old 03-10-16, 08:56 AM
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Fastening of fireplace mantel in old house

Mantel is anchored to wall by 4 screws screwed into wood pegs embedded in wall. Pegs no longer hold well. See photo showing 2 pegs.

Wondering how to repair.

Edit: can't figure out how to attach photo from Android phone. Will add photo later from home, on computer.
 
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Old 03-10-16, 09:03 AM
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Old 03-10-16, 01:53 PM
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The peg method is good if and only if the pegs have something to hold onto in the wall. Some framing is inadequate. The pictures will really help. I like to use the cleat method of attachment which spreads the weight across several studs and doesn't rely on pegs. Taking a 1x8 shorter than you mantel and ripping it in the middle at a 45 degree angle will give you both halves of the cleat. One half is mounted point up, short side to the wall into the studs with 2 1/2" decking screws. The other half is inverted and mounted to the mantel point down short side to the mantel. You mount the mantel by lowering the two cleats together. Vertical pressure keeps everything together.

I may have been a little premature with my description, but will check back for the pictures.
 
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Old 03-11-16, 12:29 PM
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I'm on my computer, so I can post the image now, although it might not help much. The photo shows two of the four pegs. This technique seems very crude but I guess it was common when homes were built back in the '30's and for whatever time period it was used.

The left peg in the photo is the only one of the four that is fairly intact and in the only one that holds a screw fairly well now; the others are quite splintered and jagged on the ends. I imagine the ends on all of them originally extended out from the wall 1/2 - 3/4" but three of them seem to have been broken off. Perhaps that is why what is left is so splintered and jagged.

I guess we can try bigger screws, which will require making the screw holes in the mantel larger.

Any suggestions?

Name:  fireplace wall pegs1.jpg
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Size:  13.5 KB

Why are two photos appearing in this post? I inserted one.
 
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Old 03-11-16, 01:12 PM
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Nice holes. Now can you provide picture(s) of your mantel? Are the tiles above or below the mantel?
 
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Old 03-11-16, 01:30 PM
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The tiles are below the mantel. The second photo is upside down; I don't know why it is even in the post; I initially inserted a photo which I noticed appeared upside down but deleted it and uploaded again. Yet, both images appear in the post.

Will get a photo of the mantel and post it.
 
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Old 03-11-16, 03:37 PM
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You need a new magic wand to delete pictures Go to the top of the page and click on the "forum actions" dropdown and click on "general settings" Go down to "attachments" click on it and you'll see JPEG listing of the pictures you posted. Delete from that list.
 
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Old 03-11-16, 05:36 PM
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Thanks. I zapped that pesky image.
 
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Old 03-12-16, 04:40 AM
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Now, zap a picture of the mantel so we can see it and its attachment points.
 
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Old 03-25-16, 08:43 AM
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Two photos of the mantel are attached. One is a closeup of one of the attachment points but it might not be easy to see in the photo because the screw hole is covered with a button painted the same color as the mantel.

I believe we've solved the problem by putting some small slivers of wood with glue in the wall peg holes. Name:  DSCF0356.jpg
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Size:  23.0 KB

Name:  DSCF0357.jpg
Views: 235
Size:  16.2 KB
 
 

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