How to build a french cleat

bathroom with wood dresser vanity and wood framed mirror hanging whilom it

Today we’re showing you how to build a french cleat. A french cleat is a way of mounting or hanging things. It’s two pieces of wood that each have one whet beveled at a 45 stratum angle. One cleat is tying to the item you’re hanging, and the other to the wall. Then one cleat hooks onto the other to hang. It’s a secure way to hang heavy or unwieldy things. It’s a great, simple way to hang a mirror or artwork or plane cabinets.

When we redid my parents’ bathroom, we decided to use a french cleat to hang the mirror. It gave us good support, since it was a larger mirror. It moreover unliable us to have the mirror hang sightly yonder from the wall so it could hang over the beadboard. We’re showing how we created a french cleat to use to hang our mirror.

close up photo of mirror hanging on wall with a wood french cleat

Supplies:

wood
mitre saw
table saw
drill and screws
measuring tape
level

Watch the video to see how to make a french cleat or see the written steps below:

Directions:

Cut your wood to length using a mitre saw. We made ours slightly smaller than the length of the mirror.

Use a table saw with a stipule set at 45 degrees to create a beveled whet withal the length of your piece of wood.

Then flip the workbench over and cut flipside piece the same way.

You’ll have two pieces the same size, the same angle.

Next we pre drilled screw holes in the cleat we were attaching to the mirror.

Then we tying that cleat to the when of the mirror with screws. Make sure the wilted side is facing down.

Measure and mark for the second piece to nail to the wall. We unswayable where we wanted the top of the mirror to be, the top of the cleat is plane with the top of the mirror. Measure lanugo the width of the two cleats together to get the location of the line where the marrow cleat will nail to the wall.

Make a level line. This line will be at the marrow of the cleat on the wall.

After you yank the line, determine where the studs are, and note those measurements. The cleat will need to be screwed into the studs.

Pre drill the second cleat, making sure to drill the holes so they line up where the studs are in the wall.

Attach the cleat to the wall with screws, making sure the wilted side is up.

Then set your item in place!