A couple finish nails, then caulked prior to painting. To keep the job simple, remove the bracket if you have to, but leave the cleat. Cut another one for the new location (that's 1 x 4). Just need a couple nails to secure it, no stud needed for the short vertical piece (whereas the horizontal piece does need more substantial support to carry the weight). Why are you moving it, anyway?

This post was edited by homebound on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 10:02

@homebound - I am sooooo not understanding this. It goes against all my experience in making things more difficult than need be. Finish nails through 1x4 into dry wall? I keep envisioning the bottom caving in 1/16th of an inch, day-by-day, until I can fish my arm down into the wall cavity and retrieve all the trash left during construction...

You just made my day!

@javachick - No problem. Sounds like you're fine. The wood (vertical cleat where lower part of bracket is secured) distributes the force of the bracket that's pushing into the wall...sort of like using snow shoes in deep powder. It won't go through the wall unless you're maybe stacking cases of gold bars on that shelf. :)

This post was edited by homebound on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 10:15

Yes, the gold bars were the reason for changing the brackets. I could have hired someone to move the brackets, but then they would have seen the gold bars and who knows how much they would have charged then! Thanks for the "support"!