Child Safety - Furniture Bracing

Dana | May 26, 2009 | 0 | Posted in Baby Talk

Ask The Safety Guy

Kacey from San Jose asks: Which pieces of furniture should I brace to the wall, and how should I do so?

Last month, I answered the first half of this important question. I described which items should be secured to prevent a climbing toddler or an earthquake from toppling them. In the meantime, the CDC came out with an updated report on the frequency and severity of toppling furniture related childhood injuries. Per the report, roughly 15,000 children are injured or killed each year by furniture and appliances (i.e. televisions) toppling upon them. So, now that we have agreed upon the importance of bracing and which items should be braced, I will address how to do so.

Regardless of the type of hardware used, it is critically important that it be secured to the framing members (or studs) of your home. Most homes in our area have sheetrock or plaster over wood studs. Anchoring a piece of furniture only to the sheetrock or plaster will not provide sufficient strength to hold under stress. Hence, always be sure to locate the studs with a stud finder and make sure you hit the studs when installing a brace. It is equally important that the screws secured into the furniture are into a solid frame member as well and not just into a particle board backing.

There are several different types of hardware available to brace furniture. The simplest is an angle bracket. Available at any hardware store, screwing a pair of these “L” shaped brackets to the top of a piece of furniture and through the sheetrock to the wall studs provides excellent anchorage. Angle brackets work very well for tall bookcases that rest against the wall. They are not as appropriate for shorter furniture or for those that rest an inch or more away from the wall.

Shorter pieces with a finished top surface should be anchored from the back. This way the hardware will not be visible, and the furniture will not be damaged. My current favorite hardware for this application is a vinyl strap product available from safebeginnings.com. It is very secure, versatile and easy to install Other vinyl strap type products use Velcro and double sided tape connections are more widely available but are inferior. Bracing furniture from the backside is more time consuming, but the improved aesthetics are worth it.

Some folks hesitate to brace antiques and heirlooms, fearing damage or depreciation due to drilling holes to secure the hardware. However, if properly anchored from the unfinished backside of the furniture, the value will not be diminished. Furthermore, consider how much more valuable the piece will be if it survives the next earthquake without toppling.

China cabinets, desk and shelf combinations, and entertainment centers are often built as separate sections stacked on top of each other. It is very important to first brace the two sections together (using a flat joint bracket or mending plate on the backside) prior to bracing the top section to the wall.

Finally, as I mentioned last time, televisions also need to be securely braced. For table top flat screens, SafetyFirst makes a good wall mount anchor. For traditional tube televisions, I recommend using the Big Screen and Appliance Strap from QuakeHold (available at most home centers). Alternatively, you can use long lengths of industrial-sized Velcro with an adhesive strip on one side (available at Home Depot). Be sure to thoroughly clean the side surfaces of the TV with alcohol prior to applying the adhesive and then screw the other ends of the Velcro into the wall studs.

Living in earthquake country with young children in the house, there is really no excuse for not having our furniture properly braced.

Submit your questions to pros@homesafety.net. Martin Simenc, The Safety Guy, is the President of Home Safety Services, Inc., the Bay Area’s largest and highest rated baby proofing company.
They can be reached at 1-888-388-3811.

child safety, childproofing, emergency preparedness (all tags)