I recently worked with a friend and client relocating the business office. The new location had been heavily wired for network connectivity by the former tenant and when they vacated they left behind a very nice network patch bay attached to the wall in a metal wall mounted rack housing. I have put up a few of these rack mounts over the years and the regulated procedure is to mount them to available in-wall studs (the racks are made for the standard 16″ stud spacing), especially if they are mounted overhead. I proceeded to install a new 24 port network switch in the rack to connect to the patch panel. I was in the process of plugging the power cord in for the new switch when the whole rack came, unceremoniously, off the wall!! The only thing that saved it from hitting both me and the floor was the large number of network lines that were connected to the patch panels! I examined the rack and discovered to my horror, that the rack housing had been attached to the wall with 1″ plastic drywall screw anchors and 1/2″ screws! After recollecting my composure (somewhat) and mentally questioning the installation quality of the previous installer, I got my stud finder out and discovered that wooden studs were located in this wall 4″ to the right of where the idiots had installed the rack!
I reattached the rack to the wall using the proper lag bolts, firmly attached to the in-wall studs. You could now do chin-ups on the rack! I’m glad that it happened when I was there and not when some employee was checking a network connection! Lesson learned: Don’t assume the professionalism of other contractors! There are some that should not be in the “trades”! Attached pic is a little out of focus as I was still shaking from the experience! The beige area is where the rack used to be.
Don’t Assume Anything!
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