How to find a stud before you anchor furniture to the wall

Anchoring furniture to the wall takes two brackets and a strap: one screwed into a wall stud, one fastened to a solid part of the piece, and the strap pulled tight between them.

That is how to anchor furniture to the wall as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) lays it out in its Anchor It! campaign, as of October 2026. Dressers and bookcases account for the largest shares of child furniture tip-over injuries in a CPSC staff report published in February 2024, so those are the first pieces the injury estimates point to. The CPSC guide also covers anchoring TVs. The hardware comes from an anti-tip kit, and the instructions for your specific kit specify which screws and straps go where.

Which pieces to anchor first

Going by CPSC's injury estimates, start with dressers, then bookcases and shelving, and also secure the TV with a TV anti-tip kit. That order is only where to begin, not a reason to leave other furniture that could tip unanchored. The CPSC staff "2023 Tip-Over Annual Report" was published in February 2024. It estimated that an annual average of 6,400 children under 18 were treated in emergency departments for furniture tip-over injuries from 2020 through 2022.

Two kinds of furniture made up the largest shares of that estimate. About 1,800 a year (28%) involved a chest, bureau, or dresser, and about 1,000 a year (16%) involved shelving, a shelving unit, or a bookcase. These are national estimates averaged over three years, not a count of individual cases.

Deaths are tracked separately. CPSC staff received 217 reports of fatalities involving the tip-over of a TV, a piece of furniture, or an appliance between January 1, 2013, and July 31, 2023. The report describes the counts for 2021 through 2023 as incomplete because reports arrive late, so that total covers only what had been reported when the report was written. The report also says it was cleared for public release but not reviewed or accepted by the Commission itself.

TVs are included alongside furniture and appliances in CPSC's tip-over fatality reports, and the CPSC installation guide has a section for flat-screen TVs alongside the one for furniture. The table below lines up the pieces that come up most in CPSC's data and guidance with where the bracket goes on each.

In a baby's room, the dresser is the piece the injury estimates point to first. The crib a few feet away follows a different set of rules, and our guide on blankets explains when one can go into the crib.

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This guide is general information, not medical advice. If you have concerns about your child’s health or safety, consult a pediatrician or another qualified professional. Follow product labels and manufacturer instructions. In an emergency in the United States, call 911. Elsewhere, use your local emergency number.

What the anchoring kit steps look like

The CPSC guide gives five steps, in this order. The wall side goes in first, and the check at the end is part of the job.

1. Attach a bracket to the wall.
2. Move the furniture close to the wall.
3. Attach the other bracket or plate to the furniture or TV.
4. Connect the strap to both brackets.
5. Tighten the strap and check that it is secure.

For step 3, the CPSC guide says to fasten the item-side bracket to a thick, sturdy area and names solid wood as a strong candidate. It says to avoid thin materials, whether that is a back panel stapled onto the piece or the area near veneered edges. The kit's instructions then narrow down where on that solid area the bracket can go.

For a flat-screen TV, the guide points to the standard mounting holes on the back of the display, used with the hardware that comes in the TV anti-tip kit. The strap then runs from those holes to the wall bracket in the same way as it would for a dresser.

The check at the end is a pull test. Pull on the strap near the wall, then near the furniture or TV; in the CPSC guide's words, "If there's no slack and nothing moves, you're all set." If a bracket shifts, the guide says the screws may need more tightening, but they should not be forced.

The kit itself is usually a small purchase. In a February 2022 news release, CPSC said most anti-tip kits cost less than $20 and can be installed in fewer than 20 minutes. That was a general statement about kits, not a promise for every kit or wall.

A dresser may arrive with its own anchoring hardware in the box. The CPSC guide tells readers to follow the instructions specific to their anchoring kit, and that holds whether the kit came with the furniture or was bought on its own.

Finding a stud behind drywall or plaster

Start by finding the stud nearest to the furniture, using a stud finder, as the CPSC guide recommends. The guide says that in modern homes, studs are spaced 16 or 24 inches apart and run straight from the floor to the ceiling.

That spacing makes the search shorter. Once a stud finder marks one stud, the next is usually 16 or 24 inches to either side, and the same stud continues straight up to the height where the wall bracket will sit.

Plaster walls follow the same process as drywall, according to the CPSC guide. In both cases the guide says to read the kit's instructions before starting, because the kit instructions specify which screws go into the stud and how to install them.

What if there is no stud where you need one?

The CPSC guide does not offer a drywall-only alternative for drywall or plaster. Its instructions for both walls begin with finding a stud. So the realistic options are to reach the nearest stud, work with a masonry wall as the guide describes, or get help from someone who can look at the wall.

This guide leaves drywall-only anchoring out for that reason. CPSC's installation instructions do not include it, and none of the primary sources behind this article describe a drywall-only method that works for every piece and every wall.

For a brick wall, the CPSC guide says to drill into the face of the brick rather than the mortar between bricks, and to use the tools and fasteners the kit calls for. The guide also suggests bringing in a contractor, or asking the building superintendent in an apartment building, if appropriate. A contractor is also the person to ask if the wall behind a dresser turns out to be something the kit's instructions do not cover.

Renting, moving, and the holes you leave

Before drilling into a rental's walls, check the lease or ask the landlord, because lease terms differ from one rental to the next. CPSC's Repair Tips page says holes in drywall and masonry can be patched so they look the way they did before, and it gives separate instructions for drywall or plaster and for masonry.

That page covers the patching after an anchor comes out. It does not cover permission. A tenant who already knows the patching steps can bring them up when asking.

On moving day, the strap and the wall bracket come off before the dresser or TV is carried out. The Repair Tips steps for that wall type cover the holes left behind. In the new home, the five steps start over with a new stud, and the pull test at the end applies again.

A move with small kids also means reinstalling the car seats in whatever car takes everyone to the new place. Our car seat guide explains why each stage depends on the seat's height and weight limits rather than a birthday.

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New dressers covered by STURDY still get anchored

The federal STURDY requirements changed what covered dressers must meet and what must come in the box, including an anti-tip device. That device still has to be installed for the dresser to be attached to the wall.

STURDY was enacted in 2022, and its requirements are codified at 16 CFR part 1261. According to CPSC's business guidance, they apply to clothing storage units manufactured after September 1, 2023. A covered unit is a free-standing furniture item with drawers or hinged doors meant for storing clothing. It is at least 27 inches tall, weighs at least 30 pounds, and has at least 3.2 cubic feet of enclosed storage.

Covered units must be packaged with an anti-tip device that meets ASTM F3096. A device that stays in the box does nothing, so the same stud, bracket, and strap steps apply to a new dresser as to an old one. The rule applies based on the manufacture date. A secondhand dresser, or one made before September 1, 2023, may not have been built to these requirements at all.

The rule does not reach everything that tips. CPSC's guidance lists bookcases and entertainment furniture as outside its scope, which leaves the living room bookcase and the TV stand where they were before 2023 — for those, follow the CPSC guide's anchoring steps and the product's own instructions.

Tonight, check the back of the dresser in the baby's room. Follow the kit instructions to place the furniture-side bracket on a thick, sturdy area; solid wood is a strong candidate.