Walls – My house has steel “2x4s” in the walls, can I hang cabinets, a TV, or some other heavy item from them

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The question is pretty much all in the title: My house has metal "2×4's" in the walls. Can I hang cabinets or a TV directly on these metal studs? If not directly, is there something special I must do?

My experience with wooden 2x4s tells me that they are super strong and with correct anchor screws you could mount very heavy items on them with no problem. The reason I ask about these metal 2x4s is because these metal 2x4s seem to bend very easily, and I'm worried that if I attach my TV to them that they might start to bend and put a lot of stress on the drywall causing it to crack or worse. Am I off base? Is there some technique I should be aware of?

Best Answer

Metal studs are great for framing walls. They are super light, easy to work with, straight. But you've discovered one drawback...they don't have nearly the strength of a wooden 2x4 for mounting things to it.

Metal studs do come in different gauges though. The heavier, the better. But it sounds like yours are fairly lightweight.

Some options:

  • take down the sheetrock, add some wood 2x4s, re-sheetrock
  • find toggle bolts suited for this (they may exist, though I doubt any are rated for hanging actual cabinets or HD TVs).
  • add your own mounting panel on the outside...such as some nice finished furniture grade plywood. Since the plywood can be attached to multiple studs in multiple locations, it can spread the load.
  • get an entertainment system designed with its own 'wall' panel. Ikea has several, for instance: enter image description here
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