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Look at this gorgeous walnut mantle
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It's probably over 100 years old, but you know what? A previous installer or carpenter ruined it
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What did they do? Look at this. They went ahead and drove nails through the edge of the walnut to attach it to the wall
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What a mistake. You know what they could have used? They could have used an ingenious device called a French cleat to hide the fasteners
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and to basically magically install the mantle or anything else to a wall system
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Now what is a French cleat? Well, basically, it's two pieces of material
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that interlock with one another. It can be made from wood, it can be made from metal
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and you can use it to affix just about anything to a wall. It could be a picture, it could be a mantle, a plaque
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you name it, you can use a French cleat to attach something to a wall
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Now, how do you make it? If you're using wood, all you have to do is take your saw, set it at a 45 degree angle
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and maybe rip a one by a one by a one, three and half down the length of the wood. Attach one part to the wall so that you get a
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V-shaped groove on the wall and then attach the corresponding piece of the cleat to the back
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of the mantle or the picture or whatever. And bingo, when you slide the mantle or the photograph
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down onto the other piece, the two pieces of material interlock and you cannot pull it from the
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wall. Oh yeah. French cleats. Look how easy they work. It's the only way to attach an object like this
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or maybe a large painting if you don't want to see nails or screws
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If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to ask the builder.com
