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Author: Subject: Mounting a pull up bar on a plasterboard wall?
nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 08:31 AM Reply With Quote
Mounting a pull up bar on a plasterboard wall?

Hi All,

I bought myself a pull up bar with the intention of fitting it in my garage. The problem I have is the bar arrived quick as a flash, but came with 8x fixings for bolting to a solid block wall. My garage is brick outer walls, but dry lined timber framed internal walls. My thoughts are to use a piece of 12mm thick marine grade plywood screwed to 2 adjacent wooden battens with multiple screws then M10 set screws to bolt the pull up bar to the plywood.

Can anyone see any issues (weaknesses) with my plans or perhaps suggest a different way of mounting the pull up bar.

For reference I weigh approx. 75kgs and need the bar to take my weight whilst staying up and not damaging the plasterboard or wooden
battens.

ETA..the wooden battens in the wall are 4"x2" timber if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Nick

[Edited on 10/5/16 by nick205]






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JoelP

posted on 10/5/16 at 08:42 AM Reply With Quote
Does the bar attach at both ends or just one? I'd suggest it easier to get one that goes in a door frame. 4x2 is usually OK, but it depends what they're fixed to - if they flex you'll get cracks. 12mm ply still has a bit of give in it too.





Beware! Bourettes is binfectious.

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prawnabie

posted on 10/5/16 at 08:55 AM Reply With Quote
Are the studs fixed to the wall? In a garage you might find only a few are fixed to the wall and the ceiling keeps the wall in place...
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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 09:17 AM Reply With Quote
Noted on the flex of the 4"x" in battens and the plywood. In all honesty I'm not so worried if the plasterboard cracks as it's not plastered over. I can't see, but doubt the 4"x2" battens are fixed frequently (if at all) to the outer brick wall so they may be subject to movement. The bar itself is designed to be wall mounted, not in a door frame - I went this way as it avoided potential damage to door frames and once fitted could stay where it was put.

It looks like this...








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JoelP

posted on 10/5/16 at 09:24 AM Reply With Quote
I'd be a bit dubious myself. If you're adamant you want to try fixing that, I'd suggest fixing a couple of 4x2s horizontally into the studs, and attaching the bar to that. There's some serious leverage involved there.





Beware! Bourettes is binfectious.

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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 09:47 AM Reply With Quote
^^^

Hence my question and hesitation in fixing it to the wall. Apart from damaging the wall I'm a little concerned about it supporting my weight and keeping me off the floor!

I did consider using some 4"x2" timber in a horizontal and vertical layout with a tube between to pull up on. This seemed a little OTT though when the pictured bar was £12 all in (that may not make it the right solution though).






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dave_424

posted on 10/5/16 at 09:54 AM Reply With Quote
Just for interest, where did you purchase that bar from? Seems like a very good price
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Slimy38

posted on 10/5/16 at 09:56 AM Reply With Quote
I actually did the same in the kitchen to mount some wall cupboards. It was a 12mm plywood sheet that went from the floor to the top of the wall cupboards, fixed to the battens and then the wall cupboards screwed to that. That was mounted on a partition wall (so battens sandwiched between sheets of plasterboard). It was lined up to fix to as many battens as possible (three I think, given a 4 foot wide sheet?)

I was hoping the load would be transmitted straight to the floor, with reduced leverage wanting to pull the partition wall down. Seems to work fine in practice, although this application is more a static load.

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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 10:18 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by dave_424
Just for interest, where did you purchase that bar from? Seems like a very good price


I have to be honest, it was an eBay purchase with delivery - I'm not allowed to drive at present so delivery works well for me.






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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 10:20 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
I actually did the same in the kitchen to mount some wall cupboards. It was a 12mm plywood sheet that went from the floor to the top of the wall cupboards, fixed to the battens and then the wall cupboards screwed to that. That was mounted on a partition wall (so battens sandwiched between sheets of plasterboard). It was lined up to fix to as many battens as possible (three I think, given a 4 foot wide sheet?)

I was hoping the load would be transmitted straight to the floor, with reduced leverage wanting to pull the partition wall down. Seems to work fine in practice, although this application is more a static load.



Interesting to hear of someone using the same approach albeit for a static load - although wall cupboards can be well loaded and have some leverage to them. I could also use a bigger sheet of plywood to spread the load on the battens - plywood is relatively locost and fairly easy to cut and drill as well.






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Slimy38

posted on 10/5/16 at 11:30 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by nick205

Interesting to hear of someone using the same approach albeit for a static load - although wall cupboards can be well loaded and have some leverage to them.


Given the amount of food my wife brings back after the weekly shopping, I would definitely agree with the 'well loaded' aspect!!

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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 12:17 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by nick205

Interesting to hear of someone using the same approach albeit for a static load - although wall cupboards can be well loaded and have some leverage to them.


Given the amount of food my wife brings back after the weekly shopping, I would definitely agree with the 'well loaded' aspect!!



Funnily enough we have the same issue at my house






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mcerd1

posted on 10/5/16 at 01:29 PM Reply With Quote
If making a little mess of the plasterboard isn't that critical, you could always cut a couple of big holes and bolt the bar direct to the block wall (with spacers to move it out a bit if need be)



Re: Kitchen cabinets, I've got exactly the opposite problem - all my walls in the house are solid brick with render & plaster straight on top, they are so solid that even hanging a picture is an effort
(I suspect some of it is pumpherston brick - shale oil waste turned into cheap bricks)
And the wife is on a mission to cut our food bills, so thee is hardly any food in the house these days....





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nick205

posted on 10/5/16 at 01:55 PM Reply With Quote
I fitted my own kitchen when we moved in 11 years ago. The internal kitchen walls are 4"x2" timber framed with plasterboard and plaster over the top. To secure the floor and wall units I used dedicated plasterboard fixings consisting of a large threaded metal insert with a self tapping screw going into them. Whilst they're strong themselves, the plasterboard has a load limit, which is my concern with the pull up bar.

Cutting plasterboard away in the garage to access the brick outer walls is possible, but as they're a single skin course of bricks I'd be loath to drill into them for fear of cracking or damaging them.






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mcerd1

posted on 10/5/16 at 02:27 PM Reply With Quote
I know what you mean about the plasterboard, it sounds like the answer is just to spread the load as far as possible / practical using some fairly heavy batons (maybe even a pair of vertical ones fixed to the floor and tied back to the wall ?)





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Jeano

posted on 10/5/16 at 02:31 PM Reply With Quote
At my personal trainer place she has a bit of plywood that is screwed 6 times into plasterboard with plasterboard fixings the strap pull bar is there screwed with a plasterboard fixing through the plywood. I weight 85kg and pull myself up on that no problem and she has heavier people than me.

Personally i would screw a batten noggin externally to the battens as you advised then fix the bar to the noggins. More fixings the better.

On site we install battens isntally to the walls but its the same as doing it on the externals. We hang everything from those noggins.





Location: Essex
Drives: MK Indy F20c with hairdryer

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Smoking Frog

posted on 10/5/16 at 03:29 PM Reply With Quote
Put some extra fixings though two of the existing battening. Span with ply to create a fixing for the bar (maybe bolt it to the ply first).
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nick205

posted on 11/5/16 at 07:46 AM Reply With Quote
Right - thanks for all the input guys, some useful things to consider.

I'm going to get a sheet of 12mm thick marine grade plywood and screw it to a pair of adjacent vertical noggins with many screws. Then mount the bar itself using 8x M10 set screws to the plywood sheet. The idea being to give a firm base with the load spread and taken by the noggins themselves. Will do it this weekend and add some photos on here when it's done.






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nick205

posted on 16/5/16 at 10:55 AM Reply With Quote
Well, I didn't get round to mounting the pull up bar with plywood this weekend - too busy rebuilding my freshly powder coated steel MTB...rides like a dream and looks rather good in White (IMHO)








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