So I never really thought of it but I put a wall mount hinged Networking Rack in my home, it never came across my head "how much can this stud hold?"
Image of the wall and rack:
Ignore the mess inside the rack, I'm gonna clean that up and make it look really nice later just needed to wrap it up for couple days.
But my question is, is there a certain rule of thumb that a construction worker has to follow when mounting studs to a cinderblock wall?
I'm little worried of this thing falling off the wall in the middle of night. I was able to hang on it with the rack and I'm 200lb and it didn't budge but I'm still worried that it may weaken. Any thought will be helpful!
PS the studs don't extend to the ground.
Best Answer
I'd say it all hinges on whether 2x4s are mounted to the wall securely, and you have no simple way to verify that. In any case, since they do not extend all the way to the floor, they are not structural, and were not designed to handle any kind of a serious load.
I'd say the most simple way to to address this would be this:
Go to a home improvement center (home depot, etc.), get 4 sleeve anchors, 1/2" x 3" at least, which are rated for cinder blocks. If your 2x4 boards are attached to the wall with their narrow edge, you'll need way longer bolts, you need at least several inches in the cinder blocks.
Drill 4 holes, 2 into each of these 2x4 members, staggering the holes and keeping well away from the edges, into the upper half of these boards, using wood drill bit.
There are many ways to attach a board to a cinder block wall (tapcons, concrete anchors, etc.), they all will work well. Basically what I'm saying is that if you can't be sure these boards are attached securely enough, just add more fasteners that will definitely support the load.
Here, I presume that your rack is securely mounted to the wood (real lag bolts, not some drywall screws), you'll want to inspect that as well.