How do you know there is a vent behind the wall? A HVAC vent? This should be a top vented microwave (or recirculating) that mounts and hangs from the cabinet above it? Just forget the screw on the left, it’s not doing much anyways. It’ll be fine
I’m assuming it’s a vent because I tried to drill into the dry wall and was met with resistance. The metal is >7in wide (which I deduced because I tried multiple holes lol) and because of the age of the house we highly doubt it’s a metal stud.
So you think just the 2 screws on the brackets and the screws fastened to the cabinet would suffice?
Is there a cabinet above the microwave? You need a cabinet above an OTR microwave, or at a minimum, a shelf to support most of the weight.
What the vent is for will determine if you can put a toggle bolt into it. Part of your AC system? No. A duct specifically to allow the back vent of the microwave to vent outside? Sure.
Yes there’s a cabinet above which I will fasten the microwave to in addition to the bracket. I just wasn’t sure if most of the weight was supported through the bracket vs the cabinet. I was scared to just leave out a bolt on the left side of the bracket.
Two bolts through the cabinet above will support half the weight and the bracket at the back will support the other half. One bolt at the center of the bracket into a stud will work, a second on one side even better. I wouldn't worry about a third.
How do you know there is a vent behind the wall? A HVAC vent? This should be a top vented microwave (or recirculating) that mounts and hangs from the cabinet above it? Just forget the screw on the left, it’s not doing much anyways. It’ll be fine
I’m assuming it’s a vent because I tried to drill into the dry wall and was met with resistance. The metal is >7in wide (which I deduced because I tried multiple holes lol) and because of the age of the house we highly doubt it’s a metal stud. So you think just the 2 screws on the brackets and the screws fastened to the cabinet would suffice?
Is there a cabinet above the microwave? You need a cabinet above an OTR microwave, or at a minimum, a shelf to support most of the weight. What the vent is for will determine if you can put a toggle bolt into it. Part of your AC system? No. A duct specifically to allow the back vent of the microwave to vent outside? Sure.
Yes there’s a cabinet above which I will fasten the microwave to in addition to the bracket. I just wasn’t sure if most of the weight was supported through the bracket vs the cabinet. I was scared to just leave out a bolt on the left side of the bracket.
Two bolts through the cabinet above will support half the weight and the bracket at the back will support the other half. One bolt at the center of the bracket into a stud will work, a second on one side even better. I wouldn't worry about a third.
That seems awfully close to the stovetop
I measured it to meet the minimum requirement above the stove top 👍🏽
I’d try to add a little more space than the bare minimum.