No one thinks accidents can happen when they bring an expensive piece of furniture into the room, but kids are killed every year from tip overs.

Furniture tip-overs are some of the often-ignored hidden hazards to children. There have been tragic stories of dressers falling on children, and companies have been sued for not including warning labels or installing tip-over restraints on their furniture.

Parents, responsible adults, and manufacturers are all responsible for preventing tip-overs to reduce accidents around the home. Furniture in each room should be secured, regardless of whether some tip more easily than others.

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No one thinks accidents can happen when they bring the expensive piece into the room. The general feeling is that tip-overs happen with cheap furniture but such thoughts are ill-informed and should not be put above safety.

It is not about sleek furniture or chastising kids correctly. Older and younger kids can get hurt, as they try to stand on the drawers to get something or just to experiment. Tip-overs can happen anywhere, anytime, and to any person. At home, in school, at the stores or in a meeting place, even to grownups and to the elderly.

Here is the thing, set up tip-over restraints or get furniture with restraints and everybody wins.

It is important to set up furniture anchors on every piece of furniture, and do not assume that the dresser is too heavy to tip over. Fit your drawers, desks, cabinets, tables, armoires, TV stands, and nightstands with anchors, because ALL furniture and ALL Televisions have the potential to tip over.

Select A Tip-Over Restraint

The first step is to choose a suitable wall anchors to hold your furniture in place. Depending on how wide or tall your furniture is, you can install the anchors horizontally or vertically.

Also, choose mounting hardware that can support the highest number of pounds, as well as one that is flexible enough to make the kit easy to mount. Some manufacturers include kits in their furniture, but you should check to ensure that the restraints are made of steel cable or nylon webbing.

Anchoring Your Wall

What type of wall do you have? Drywall, masonry wall or plaster wall?

Drywall and plaster walls are common and do not need professional help, but masonry walls may require you to hire a repair person to secure your furniture to the brick or concrete wall.

Steps:

* Mark your mounting point on the wall with a pencil and make sure it lines up with the back of your furniture.

* Follow the installation instructions to measure vertically and determine the appropriate location for the wall bracket.

* For plaster walls, drill holes into the wall, but do not make the hole wider than the tip-over restraint. If you have drywall, trace a stud in the wall using a stud finder.

* Once you find the stud, use drywall screws to secure the anchor into the stud directly. For plaster walls, fix the anchor over the drilled holes, tapping it firmly until it goes in all the way.

* Proceed with connecting the wall and the furniture to the anchor.

It is important to consider the type of wall you have because different walls need different tip-over restraints. Likewise, it is important to remember that a tip-over restraint needs to withstand any force that tries to pull the furniture straight out from the wall.

Installing Brackets To Your Furniture

When putting the bracket:

* Go up as high as you can on the furniture, and secure the anchor to a thick piece of wood.

* Do not attach the restraint to the thin part of the furniture that can easily come off under heavy pressure.

* Mark your piece of furniture at the part where you will put the bracket and make a hole in it.

* Fix the bracket to the furnishing using wood screws and connect your furniture to your wall, connecting the mounting brackets on the wall and furniture with a strap or a cable

Once you have secured your tip-over restraint to your wall and furniture, patch up the holes on your wall to prevent wall damage. For drywall or plaster, brush away debris around the hole before filling the holes with a paste. Masonry walls will need concrete hole fillers that match the shade of the brick or concrete.

After filling up the holes, touch your wall up with paint to complete the process.

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Originally posted here:
Tip-Over Restraints: Why We Need Them & How To Set Up | Moms.com - Moms

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May 27, 2020 at 2:42 pm by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Drywall Installation