Anchor the furniture that can tip
One-time · any month works
Why it matters
Renters live with unanchored furniture because they can't drill. You own the walls now — the one upgrade homeownership makes free is the right to put a screw exactly where safety wants it. The tip-over list, in order: dressers (drawers out = ladder), bookcases (top-heavy by design), TVs on furniture (the modern version of the old console-TV hazard), and anything tall in a hallway kids run down.
No kids at home? Anchor the TV and the top-heavy pieces anyway — guests bring kids, dogs chase things, and in a lot of the country the ground occasionally moves.
What skipping it costs
$0–$5,000
A dresser tips when a drawer becomes a step — which is exactly how kids use them. Tip-overs injure thousands of children a year; the priced part is the ER deductible and the smashed TV, and the physics doesn't care how careful your family is. A $10 strap into a stud removes the possibility outright.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Drill, Stud finder, Screwdriver, Anti-tip straps/brackets (~$8–$15 per piece of furniture), TV anti-tip straps (~$15–$25).
- Walk each room and tip-test gently: pull the top of each tall piece an inch toward you, and open a dresser's top drawer and press down lightly. Anything that moves goes on the list.
- Buy anti-tip kits — furniture straps and TV straps are hardware-store staples. The furniture maker may also mail you their kit free; the big brands do this on request (and after recalls).
- Find the stud behind each piece. Strap bracket into the stud with the kit's screw — not into drywall with a drywall screw. Where no stud lines up, use the kit's toggle anchor rated for the load.
- The other end attaches to the furniture's solid frame — not the thin back panel. Leave straps snug, not guitar-string tight.
- TVs: strap to the furniture AND consider the real fix — wall-mounting, which turns the whole hazard into decor.
- While the drill's out: water heater strapping is the same idea for a different threat — if you're in earthquake country, your water heater card covers it.
Hire it out
$100–$250National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A handyman anchors a house's worth of furniture in one visit for $100–$250 — fair for the drill time, and worth it if tools aren't your thing yet. Ask them to walk you through the first one; the second one is yours forever.
The market's ugly corner is the "certified babyproofing consultation" that turns $75 of straps and latches into a four-figure package. Some of what those services install is genuinely useful — but get the itemized list, price the parts, and pay for labor, not mystique.
Ask the tech
- Are you anchoring into studs — and where studs don't line up, what anchor are you using instead?
- Can you do the TVs, the dressers, and the bookcases in one visit?
- Will you show me one so I can do the next piece myself?
Red flags you're being upsold
- 'Child-proofing packages' at $1,000+ where the parts list totals $75 — this is straps and screws, priced like surgery.
- Anchoring into drywall alone with the stock screws — the kit's toggle or a stud is the whole point.
Second opinion time: Any whole-home safety package over $500 — get the itemized parts list and price it at the hardware store first.
The call
DIY it — it's an hour with a drill, and you own the drill now. Hire it only if 'find a stud' isn't in your vocabulary yet, and have them teach you on piece one.