Stabilising furniture

[Just4Fun]

I have made a piece of furniture that is over 2m high, almost 1m wide and less than 0.5m deep (front to back). It sits on castors fixed beneath a false bottom and hidden by a skirt that almost reaches the floor. To allow the castors to rotate freely through 360 degrees without hitting the skirt they are mounted inboard from the edges, so the footprint ends up quite narrow front to back. I am concerned that it would be easy for this piece of furniture to topple over if pulled. OK, it is a bad design and I should have thought of this before I built it, but it is what it is now and I want to find a way to prevent it coming down and injuring someone. Is there a neat, common solution to this problem or do I just roll my own?

The piece will sit against a wall (just held forward by the skirting) so the obvious approach is to use the wall in some way.

I first thought of screwing a bracket to the wall and to the top of the piece. I don't like this because if the piece moves slightly - say someone leans against the piece or sits on a seat that is incorporated into the design) it may eventually work the screws loose. Also I may need to move the piece occasionally for cleaning behind it or to make a gangway and a permanent fixing might be a hassle.

My next thought was to use a short piece of chain instead of a bracket, so it would only come into play if the piece were falling, and minor movements wouldn't matter. I could put the chain on a hook so removing it to move the piece would be easier than dealing with screws.

I also thought of putting some shelf brackets (without a shelf) on the wall and protruding just above the top of the piece. If the piece were pulled over the top would tilt and hit these brackets, but not being attached to them it would not be a problem to move the piece when necessary.

Am I over-thinking this? What is the best solution?

 

[windi64]

French cleat at ¾ of the height?

 

[sunnybob]

If youre fixing it to the wall, why do you need castors?

Ditch them immediately. That cabinet is way too unstable to be on wheels.
Even then you would be safer with a wall fixing of some kind/

 

[Just4Fun]

French cleat at ¾ of the height?

Unfortunately that won't work because the piece is heavy and bulky so one person would not be able to lift it off the cleat to move it. It will occasionally need to move to make space to move things past where it will be located.

If youre fixing it to the wall, why do you need castors?

The castors were the original plan. Fixing to the wall is a later idea when I realised how unstable it is. The requirement is that it should be fixable to be safe but easily moved when necessary.

Ditch them immediately. That cabinet is way too unstable to be on wheels.

The castors have to stay because the piece will sometimes need to be moved. It is too big & heavy for 1 person to move it if it is not on castors. I have to find some way to make it safe yet mobile.

 

[sunnybob]

Youre missing the point. Regardless of whether it falls over while there, one person moving that on those castors is in danger, let alone any other people or furniture in the vicinity. If its on carpet or a wonky floor its not a case of if, its a case of when.
If its non negotiable for one person to be able to move it, then you really should redesign it.
Or make a separate outrider trolley that will be fixed to it when it needs to be moved, with waaay wider base. Why does it need to be moved? If its a secret door then just hinge it from one side.

 

[Just4Fun]

Youre missing the point. Regardless of whether it falls over while there, one person moving that on those castors is in danger, let alone any other people or furniture in the vicinity. If its on carpet or a wonky floor its not a case of if, its a case of when.

Yes, you are right; I certainly missed that point. I see now what you had in mind, but I look at it a different way. I am not concerned about it falling over while being moved. It moves very easily, will not be on carpet or a wonky floor, and I am confident there is no real danger at that time. Especially as the one person moving it will be me. I am more concerned about what happens if someone (such as a visiting child) climbs on it, or other "mis-use".

Why does it need to be moved?

It will live in an entry way, just inside a front door. To the side of the door is a half door that is only opened if something large, like furniture, has to go into or out of the house. When that happens, this piece will be in the way and will need to be moved to make a gangway. That will not happen often, but it will happen. The piece will also be moved occasionally for cleaning around it.

 

[sunnybob]

I presume the end is a flat board?
If so then make another flat board, hinged to the front side of the unit. Before moving it, open up the vertical hinged side (it will have a castor on the back corner). Straight away its now 1 metre deep and will not topple.

 

[ElectricFeet]

I have made a piece of furniture that is over 2m high, almost 1m wide and less than 0.5m deep (front to back).

Even without castors, this is dangerous and needs to be fixed to a wall.

I recently researched ways of fixing furniture to walls as my sister-in-law has a chest of drawers in a child's room, which is not secured: an absolute no-no. Yet she needs ready access behind it. An interestingly strong yet flexible way to solve the problem is to use a door chain.

Thinking laterally in your case... Once you have it secured to the wall at the top, have you considered removable front legs to secure it at the bottom? They could sit in front of the castors and be secured with a bolt, for instance.

Movement limited at the top with a taut chain, plus movement limited at the bottom with gravity should do it.

 

[Inspector]

If the floor is scratch resistant like tile you could remove the castors and put plastic faced glides on the bottom corners. You can drag it out when you need and push it back when done. Same idea as on the bottom of chairs.

A couple small brackets screwed to the wall with a hole to allow a pin (bolt with head cut off) to drop into a matching hole in the top would anchor it and not be too obtrusive.

 

[Just4Fun]

A couple small brackets screwed to the wall with a hole to allow a pin (bolt with head cut off) to drop into a matching hole in the top would anchor it and not be too obtrusive.

I like that idea.

 

[AES]

FWIW, I agree with all the others, this really is an accident waiting to happen - as you say, not so much when you're moving it (you designed it so you're aware of the danger), but when any visitor who isn't aware should lean against it in the wrong way - child especially.

Personally I like the idea of a tight chain or pin/s at the top, but for a little added stability, how low down is the first shelf/floor of the unit? Sounds like pretty low.

If so, and you have the space, then a couple or three weight lifters' "pancake-shaped" weights (those that go on the ends of bars) from the sports shop will help to lower the centre of gravity. Choose 2.5 or 5 Kg, and just a single row along the bottom shelf. Depending on how much other stuff is down there, they should be easy enough to remove when the unit needs to be moved.

AND when filling the unit with the "real" stuff, get as much heavy stuff as low down as possible, filling with lighter and lighter stuff the further up the shelves you go.

But whatever you decide, you really MUST (sorry) fix that unit back against the wall somehow - it's very dangerous just "free standing".

 

[Doug71]

Just use two large corner braces, you can generally put them just above or just below a shelf so they can't be seen. It will be fixed solid and you only need to remove a few screws from the cabinet when you need to move it.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/corner-brace ... pack/14177

 

[Setch]

I recently secured a tall chest of drawers by screwing a piece of 2x2 to the wall, though the skirting board, then screwing through the base of the unit into the 2x2.

Very solid fixing, no visible screws or homes to fill in the wall (couple of early filed holes in the skirting) and easily unfixed by removing the bottom drawer and unscrewing the screws into the batten.