safety and heavey furniture

wolfehouse

i inherited a heavy sideboard and have been warned that there have been
incidents (and deaths) of young children trying to climb up and being
squashedif heavy furniture falls of them.

what kind of bracket or fixing can i use to attach it to the wall and prevent any tragedies?

SailorSam

I would think an old heavy sideboard would be very steady and unlikely to tip over, it's not as if it's a tall Welsh Dresser.
To be safe though, the simplest way would be inside one of the cupboarde just drill through, then plug the wall. Or the type of brackets that hold your kitchen cabinets to the wall would be good.

TomsMom

How heavy is the sideboard and how big are the children? Was it previous owners of this sideboard who have warned you of incidents of children being injured?

If the sideboard is really heavy, it's a low one (i.e. not a Welsh dresser as SailorSam says) and you are storing things in it then there's no way it should topple over.

If the children are babies/toddlers just learning to walk and pulling themselves up on the sideboard doors/drawers, they wont be strong enough to pull it over.

If the children are older, can you not teach them "That's a piece of furniture not a climbing frame". If you've inherited it you'd surely like to keep it nice to pass on in the future.

In 40 years my children/grandchildren have never had an incident with my sideboards and I've had both modern and Welsh dresser type, but they've never climbed up one either. All our sideboards have taken two grown men to move them, empty and with the drawers taken out. I think your children would be safe if it is as heavy as you say.

wolfehouse

it has a large heavy display case on top.
i remember reading of children's death from furniture like this falling on them
so i'm sure that although it is not common, it is possible
(and no matter how you teach and watch over children you just need to turn your back)

and it's forthcoming grandchildren i'm worried about

TomsMom

wolfehouse wrote: »

it has a large heavy display case on top.

You will be able to fix the back of display case to the back of the sideboard bottom. I think ours came with some sort of metal "bar" thing (sorry, not good at explanations about things like this ) that screwed into the top and bottom bits. If it didn't already come with it then OH probably had something to do it with. That would make the top immovable and the children will be safe. Our display case top bit was about half the depth of the sideboard bottom bit so well away from little probing hands. For your peace of mind you could find some way of fixing it like that and then enjoy your lovely piece of inherited furniture.

Assuming there is skirting board where you wish to place the sideboard, it would be easier to fix the top to the bottom rather than fixing it to the wall as there would be a fair gap because of the skirting board.

27col

I installed a tall book case recently and it had a webbing strap with it that you screwed to the top of the cabinet and the other end to the wall above it. It seems to work quite well.