Hollow Wall Anchors and how to use them.

Hollow wall anchors are very popular cavity type fixings for plasterboard, drywall and general board materials. Many plasterboard fixings work by biting into the board or expanding into the core material to get a ‘fix’, hollow wall anchors work by expanding in the cavity behind the board  clamping the fixture and making a much stronger anchor point. They are a captive fixing which is a great feature and means once its fitted you can remove the fixture and screw but the body will stay in position allowing refitting.

Installation is carried out in 1 of 2 ways, either by using  a hollow wall anchor setting tool (one size fits all) or by simply screwing the anchor in using a standard screwdriver or cordless driver. The tool makes fitting the anchors very simple and quick and is ideal when there are several fixings to make or if you are regularly using this type of anchor.

To install using the tool, firstly you need to make sure you have enough space in the cavity to insert the anchor and allow it to expand (so avoid fitting near to studs, corners etc). Start off by drilling the correct size hole in the board and insert the anchor, give it a light tap to make sure the teeth under the head bite into the board (this will stop it turning as its tightened). Insert the nose piece of the tool between the flat collar and underside of the screw as shown above.

Squeeze the red handles together and the anchor body will start to collapse, opening the legs up behind the board, keep pumping the handles until you feel firm pressure, the anchor is now fully expanded so you can press the silver trigger which releases the tool. You then undo the centre screw, position your fixture over the installed anchor body, replace the screw and tighten, and that’s all there is to it, very quick very simple and very effective.

To install without the tool you just tap into a drilled hole (as previous) but instead of connecting the tool you just tighten the centre screw by hand until you have expanded the legs behind the surface, then remove the screw, place the fixture and retighten.

For more information you can check out our full range of hollow wall anchors here.