This isn’t the first time we have heard stories about toddlers pulling furniture onto themselves causing injury and even death.  Luckily this time two year old Brock Shoff  can thank his twin brother Bowdy for making sure he was ok. The boys were playing at their home in Orem, Utah, Friday morning when a dresser fell on Brock.  A home surveillance video shows Bowdy trying for almost two minutes to free his brother from under the furniture — eventually succeeding. The boys’ parents posted the video to social media to highlight the importance of securing furniture to make homes childproof, they said.

Last year IKEA made a bold move recalling all MALM dressers that they manufacture because of the number of children who had been injured.  However, any furniture that is light enough to be pulled down should be affixed to a wall.  Here are some instructions on how to properly attach a dresser to the wall.

 

 

Dresser With a Solid Wood Back

1

Move the dresser away from the wall.

2

Run a stud finder over the wall at the dresser height to locate the studs. Draw light vertical pencil lines on each side of the stud just lower than the dresser height.

3

Move the dresser back to the wall. Lay a pencil on the top of the dresser and make a horizontal line above the two vertical lines indicating the location of the stud. If the dresser is very wide, locate another stud behind the dresser and repeat the process with the pencil lines.

4

Take the top drawer out of the dresser.

5

Drill a 3/16-inch pilot hole through the back wall of the dresser and into the wall through the stud. Then drill a larger 1/4-inch pilot hole through the back of the dresser to accommodate the shank of the lag bolt. Use the pencil lines to determine where to drill.

6

Secure the lag bolt into the hole with the drill and a lag bolt bit. The bolt should be long enough to go through the dresser and into the stud. If the dresser is very wide and you marked two studs, repeat the process to anchor the other bolt.

Dresser With a Flimsy Back

1

Search for the stud in the wall above the dresser with a stud finder. Lightly mark the location of the sides of the stud with a pencil.

2

Set an L-bracket on top of the dresser between your pencil lines so the bracket is lined up with the stud. One side of the L-bracket will be sitting flat on top of the dresser and the other side of the bracket will sit against the wall going behind the dresser. This keeps one side of the “L” hidden behind the dresser instead of showing above it. Make a horizontal mark on the wall where the top of the bracket is located.

3

Move the dresser away from the wall. Holding the bracket against the wall at the horizontal line you made, make marks where the holes of the bracket touch the wall. Drill pilot holes slightly smaller than your screws into the holes in the L-bracket. Attach the bracket with screws to the wall.

4

Move the dresser back to the wall. The top of the dresser is now snugly underneath the other arm of the bracket. Drill pilot holes into the dresser top. Screw the screws into the bracket to secure it to the top of the dresser.

Things You Will Need

  • Stud finder
  • Pencil
  • Drill
  • 1/4-inch-diameter lag bolt
  • 3/8-inch toggles
  • L-bracket