How to Strengthen a Wall for a Vanity Mirror
Recently, we updated our main bathroom. We had to improve some areas so that the vanity mirror would stay securely on the wall. Since the mirror was heavy, this was critical.
Some background information: When we built the house, this area was supposed to be a door. But they framed the wall incorrectly. And they drywalled the area before we could tell them. It was OK because we didn't want a door to the bedroom there anyway. So, instead, we decided to keep it the way it was. However, the problem was they didn't add the extra stud for the opening, so there was a big 20 inch opening between studs.
This post will show you how we helped strengthen the wall and make it more useable and stronger.
Here is what the vanity area looked like before we updated it. While the mirror there held up OK, it wasn't nearly as heavy as the new mirror.
We used the same paint as the furniture.
We measured the area and used three pieces of paintable wood. And, we cut them down and paint them with white paint.
We then screwed them with drywall screws to the wall. Where the screw holes are is where the area of the stud. There is a gap on the right where the vanity would hang, resulting in the mirror not being appropriately supported.
We then added paintable caulk on the top and bottom of the wood and over the holes and let dry.
Here is what it looked like after we finished the caulking. The ones in the middle will be behind the vanity mirror.
By adding the wood beams, we were able to strengthen the area for the mirror.
We then screwed the vanity into the wood beams.
Here is a view of the vanity when we had just finished the project.
Here is what the vanity looks like today. I updated the chair. Instead of taking down the drywall and reframing it, we thought that the wood would be an excellent feature for this wall. What do you think? If you want to visit the original update, feel free to click the link below.
Feel free to see our complete bathroom update here.
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That's one way to solve the problem. For a heavy mirror I would have used a French cleat with toggle bolts. Screw in drywall anchors would have also worked. Both are used when you can't hit a stud (which happens all the time).
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