What is a Wall Bracket?

There are only so many cabinets, and flooring space to hold things in a home. Designers often advise people to think vertically, and to use space on walls for extra storage or display. To do this, one thing people can do is to install a wall bracket, or several of them, which can hold small or large items that either serve decorative purposes or keep things from detracting from the visual interest of a home. A wall bracket would be any type of installation that is attached to the wall, usually made of metal, and which could hold other things.

Many people are getting quite familiar with the concept of the wall bracket, due to the number of television sets that are wall mounted. These are mounted, essentially, on brackets. Good quality brackets, when they’re successfully installed, keep the TV securely fixed into the wall.

A wall bracket doesn’t have to be so ambitious it holds a television set. It could be a few screws and a metal plate in the wall that holds a small shelf. Alternately, brackets could keep in place a larger shelf that could be used for displaying collectibles.

As mentioned, brackets higher up in a room that are used to hold shelves can give the room more space. Some people like them, for this reason, so they can place sound system elements like speakers well out of the way of foot traffic. Additionally, people use brackets to hang certain lighting elements, though these may need to be placed near electrical wiring to work successfully.

There are a couple of things to consider when installing one or more wall bracket types. First, size is important. People planning to hang a television set need to make sure they get properly fitting brackets. A certain length, size or amount of brackets could be needed depending on weight the bracket will hold.

Another important consideration is how to install a wall bracket securely. It is wise to pay attention to installation instructions, which with heavy items, will usually require people to screw the bracket into wall studs. Walls may not hold much, depending on the material of which they’re made, and placing a heavy item on brackets or shelves on brackets, that have been screwed in plaster is a recipe for broken heavy items and holes in the wall. People may need to invest in a small device called a stud finder, to determine how to safely mount brackets on wall studs.

Anyone living in earthquake country has another potentially dangerous issue to deliberate. While bracketed shelves that are high up are excellent for storage, any non-secure items could fall, break, or injure someone else. In fact, a shelf supported by a few slender brackets might fall down too. It’s advisable to determine the wisdom of stacking items on the wall of certain materials, types, or weight. Returning to the idea of the mounted TV set, for instance, one viable concern must be the security of the mount, so that slight trembling or shaking would not break the TV loose.

With these cautions in mind, people can begin shopping for the perfect wall bracket selections. Good places for brackets to hang shelves, lights, cabinets, and mounts are home improvement stores. They tend to have widest selections, though hardware stores may also be useful in this respect.