the best fixings for plasterboard and drywall

An often asked question and the answer is …. none. The fact is plasterboard and drywall sheets are pretty weak materials, particularly for point loads where you can have all the load of a large item resting on a few small areas, a kitchen cabinet may actually only be fixed to the wall in 2 places for instance. So the ideal fixing for board materials will always be a wood, batten or coach screw of your preferred choice screwed directly through the board into the supporting structure, be that timber or metal battens/studs or maybe even masonry if the board has been bonded on, having said that if you have metal stud partition framing then the metal sections will be either hollow section or C section and therefore a cavity type expansion anchor would be more preferable such as hollow wall anchors.

To find the studs an electronic stud finder is a good idea but you can also use your ears and feel for the studs by gently tapping along the wall section, the stud will of course have more of a dull thud than the hollow areas and once you’ve found one or two then measuring off should get you near the rest, average stud width is 2″ (50mm) and distance between centres is usually 18″ (450mm) – 24″ (600mm).

If your building a new property or in the middle of some major renovation then its always worth considering lining the areas likely to have heavy loads fixed to them (kitchens or bathrooms) with plywood or similar before applying the plasterboard or adding extra studs and battens in strategic areas, this will give you the freedom to easily fix anything anywhere in the future and give a high strength anchoring area, remember, an empty kitchen cabinet is a lot lighter than a full one so you should consider the items final use not just its dry weight.

So in an ideal world all the internal framing of your wall will line up perfectly with where you want to put your fixings … OK in reality you might get lucky and the the odd one may be in the right position but the rest of your fixtures will have to go straight into the board. So which is best …. well here’s a quick rundown of the common types :

Hammer in drywall fixings, these are great for lightweight applications and really fast to install, simply hammer (tap) the anchor though the board and pop a screw in it, when you start tightening, the legs open up behind the board to give a solid fixing point.

Speed plugs or wall mate plasterboard anchors as they are often known, these are very easy to use and are inserted by simply screwing straight into the board, there’s no expansion or clamping action with these fixings with all the strength coming from the deep worm type threads cutting into the plasterboard, you then just use a standard wood screw fixed into the hollow centre section.

They are manufactured in corrosion resistant alloy and also nylon for non corrosive and non conductive electrical applications and ideal for light to medium weight fixing.

Butterfly plastic toggle anchors, these are highly underrated fixings which work exceptionally well, they work with a clamping action by collapsing the body and then pushing the fixing through a hole in the board, when a screw is inserted and tightened the wings fully open and clamp the back of the board to give a strong corrosion free anchor point.

Suitable for medium to heavy loads.

Hollow wall anchors, also termed brolly anchors are a steel body designed to open up into an umbrella shape when tightened, these are great fixings, and simple to install by inserting into a drilled hole and then expanded by either tightening of the supplied screw or using a specially designed pistol grip wall anchor tool, once it is locked in position you can attach the fixture.

They work on a clamping action behind the board rather than point loading and are therefore able to take considerable amounts of weight and are fine for medium to heavy loads, to give you some idea try and imagine pushing a closed umbrella through a letterbox, opening it and then trying to pull it back though …. good luck with that!

Spring toggle anchors, operate on a similar umbrella type principle, these fixings are spring loaded so you push the fixing through a drilled hole and it snaps open so the wings are inside the wall and then simply tighten the screw to secure the fixture, you need to be careful with these that you don’t undo the screw completely as the toggle section is not captive and will just fall into the wall to be lost forever, suitable for light to medium loads.

Gravity toggle anchors as the name suggest work on gravity, you push the anchor through the board and turn it, the toggle then drops down at 90 degrees to the screw so when you tighten it up it clamps the back of the board, a simple to use fixing which works very well with medium to heavy fixtures.

So just to summarise, if you can fix into a stud then that’s the way to go, if not, theres plenty of choice of board fixings all doing a similar excellent job allbeit in slightly different ways and as for the best well its mostly down to your own preference, try the different types out and see what you think, personally I’m a speed plug, butterfly toggle and hollow wall anchor fan, but that’s just me.

As an extra trade tip if you find you simply cannot get any fixing to hold as the hole in the plasterboard just keeps getting bigger with every attempt or the fixing is pulling out due to the weight of the fixture then use expanding sealing foam in the hole and completely fill the cavity around the damaged area, re drill your hole one size down and carefully and insert a nylon wall plug, position your fixture, screw straight into the plug and there you go … job done. c49wy25qih