Can choice please do a review on furniture anchors to stop toddlers pulling furniture over? Looking at product reviews, a lot of them seem to fail and break just being installed which obviously makes them useless. Can’t find any that seem reliable and choice hasn’t done a review even though they recommend their use.
Choice are campaigning to improve safety standards and mandatory use of furniture anchors, i think its a bit disappointing that there is no review to help parents buy anchors for existing furniture. Please help!
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Hey,
I need to anchor furniture to the walls (tall bookcase, chest of draws etc) as I have a toddler and am really worried about her accidentally pulling furniture over. Can anyone recommend ones that are good? Looking at product reviews, a lot of them seem to fail and break just being installed which obviously makes them useless. Can’t find any that seem reliable and choice hasn’t done a review even though they recommend there use.
Greatly appreciate advice!
Welcome to the community @Loz12
The potential for furniture to fall on young children is a concern raised by Choice, noted by retailers and the ACCC.
Please note one only needs to post similar discussion to a single topic for the community to respond. Your 2 independent posts have been combined in the one new topic.
There is a similar short discussion with shared concerns.
It’s a complex topic for which there is currently no accepted standard. This may make testing of any anchor system challenging considering different products require different types and capacity for the anchors. IKEA by example supply customer anchors which are product specific.
Choice staff @BrendanMays may be able to comment further on the practicality of testing, and the competency or skill levels required to correctly install an anchor. An anchor is only as strong as the two attachment points. One being to the item of furniture being restrained, the other the adjacent wall.
The following articles may assist others to more fully understand the issues and concerns.
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I have a problem with way the question is being asked. To make taller furniture secure to a wall requires understanding how do do it and the ability to execute it, not just the choice of some proprietary fastener. If the fastener is inappropriate for the wall material or the installation is not done correctly you are wasting your time and creating a false sense of security.
Just a little detail. There are roughly three kinds of walls;
- solid walls such as brick, stone and concrete block
- timber frame
- steel frame.
The frame construction may have various linings applied with various ability. Then there is the question of anchors in the lining or in the frame. For maximum strength fasteners should go into the frame but that may or may not be required depending on the situation.
All require different fastenings and possibly different tools to do the installation. Use the wrong sort and either you cannot get it in or it will not hold. Some judgement is required too, even with the right fastening as not all walls of a given type are identical or perfectly built.
Rather than go looking for a product you would be better off looking for a competent person.
There is no point in testing anchors, especially as under test conditions they will all be installed by a competent person and the installation as a whole is what needs testing. Identifying some anchors as unsafe may be useful but I wouldn’t want to declare the others to be safe because depending on the situation they might not be.
5 Likes
Hi @Loz12, welcome to the community.
While some poorly designed furniture may have a toppling risk, this doesn’t apply to all furniture. Some is designed or by chance has a very low tip risk.
It is relatively easy to see if furniture one has, has a risk of toppling. For drawers, they can be fully extended and pushing gently down on the extended drawer with some weight (e.g. equivalent to a toddler or more). If the drawer cabinet doesn’t tip, it is unlikely to have a significant toppling risk.
Likewise with bookcases, pull on the top of the bookcase to see how much effort it takes to get it to start to tip.
If the furniture is poorly designed, it may tip relatively easily. If this is your furniture, an option is to remove it from rooms the toddler uses (bedroom, family room etc) and place it in a less frequented room behind a closed door (preferably one the toddler can’t open) or in a position that ensures if it does tip, it can’t fall.
Other options include…say if only when drawers are extended it makes the draws more likely to tip, child resistant cupboard catches can be placed on the draws to prevent a toddler opening the draws. This works until the child works out how to open the catches. Some magnetic catches need the magnet to unlock which means the magnet can be placed out of reach.
With book cases, ensure heavy things (e.g. books) are on the lower shelves if some shelves have lighter things (ornaments for example).
Some products which are known to have high toppling risk, like TV’s, may come with fixing straps. These if used in accordance with instructions should reduce risks. Alternatively, mounting the TV on the wall out of reach of a toddler.
In reality the only way to fully guarantee furniture won’t tip is to have built-ins or permanently attach the furniture to structure of the house (screwed into studs, joists, trusses etc). While such approach may be possible, it has consequences such as inability to reposition furniture as one chooses/causes minor damage which needs repairing if furniture is removed. Renters may have constraints to causing damage to the property and landlord approval may he required.
What approach is adopted might depend in one’s own risk profile, the nature of the children involved and practical options which would be implemented.
4 Likes
Any sort of wall anchor system likely leaves renters out in the cold. If I were still renting property out to tenants I don’t think that I would be very pleased to approve putting some sort of thingo in the middle of a wall. Patching after they move out is likely to still be obvious so degrading the value of the property ever after.
With my engineers hat on, a quick few thoughts come to mind about screwing the base or wall side legs to the floor, much easier to make look good after removal than holes in the wall. Careful measurements required to avoid looking ugly especially for items with legs but doable - I know coz I have done that. Luckily the tall bookcase I was protecting had a base so it was much easier but a spreader (big washer) MUST be used for MDF and similar material coz it will allow a screw head to pull through easily. If it has legs ensure that they are up to the tensile load to prevent tipping - some are fitted to plug in sockets, utterly useless to resist a tensile (pull up) load but just fine for holding up the weight of the unit which is the design case.
Also luckily the floor covering was carpet tiles. Too easy to remediate after moving out - fill the screw holes in the floor, throw away the damaged floor tiles and fit your spares kept for this occasion.
Simply put, if the rear (wall side) legs or base edge of the furniture can not rise/lift then the item will not tip over.
Maybe consider buying a taller unit than you really want which will hit the ceiling before it tips over.
If you are not SURE what you’re doing in this area dear reader get proper advice from somebody who knows what is necessary. You’re “playing for keeps” here.
