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The upper railing for the closet in my daughters room wiggles. I went up into the attic to see why, and it seems like it's attached predominantly into the drywall ceiling - in some places with anchors, and in some places without anchors (?!).

(Sorry for the image quality, was balancing at a strange angle and trying to get enough light into the area).

What can I do to fix this situation? I'm sort of inclined to just unscrew the railing entirely, lay a 2x4 on top of the drywall and then screw the railing back in (e.g. so then screws go through the drywall into the 2x4). Do I need to support this 2x4 in some other way, by connecting to the joist (or is it a rafter)?

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negacao
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    If not too much weight your idea should work, but if weight or moving weight(hanging clothes) is expected, then the 2x4 should be anchored to the rafters/trusses. – crip659 Dec 15 '21 at 23:59
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    This is actually for the doors to the closet, so I don't think there should be too much weight. – negacao Dec 16 '21 at 00:09
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    With the movement of the doors will need to anchor the2x4 so it will be solid. The doors movement will make the holes in the drywall bigger over time, so the 2x4 needs to mounted to the trusses. – crip659 Dec 16 '21 at 00:26
  • @crip659 That makes perfect sense, thank you. – negacao Dec 16 '21 at 00:27

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Since you have access to the back of the drywall, installing a backer board of some sort is definitely the way to go. A 2x4 is fine - actually more than you probably need. But the board needs to itself attach to at least two other boards. That could be screws between boards or some sort of metal bracket connecting the boards and screwed into both them.

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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  • Thank you. Does it seem fair if I lay the initial 2x4 directly on top of the drywall, and then put two smaller sections of 2x4 on top of it - which would be screwed into the joists at the side, and the 2x4 underneath it? Forming a sort of fat H. If that explanation isn't coming across, let me know and I'll try to make a drawing. :) – negacao Dec 16 '21 at 00:11
  • That's absolutely fine. But best if the new main ("initial") 2x4 is butted up against an existing board on one end (which looks easy based on the pictures) - that way the next layer keeps it from pushing away from the drywall but doesn't have to deal with sliding around too. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 16 '21 at 00:12
  • Oh, you're talking about the shorter 2x4 that goes from one joist to another? Butt up against that, and maybe repeat the process at the other end? – negacao Dec 16 '21 at 00:15