I have to mount a heavy wooden plaque on a sheetrock wall with metal studs underneath. The holes in the plaque are predrilled, so the wall anchors have to go where they have to go. What if I drill into a metal stud? If it were a wooden stud, a wood screw would go in place of an anchor, and it would be no problem. So what do I do if I hit metal? With the right kind of fastener, maybe I should Try to hit the metal for extra strength? Thx.
-B
anchors have
fastener,
A fine thread sheet rock screw will hold into the stud fairly well, but it must be the fine threads as opposed to the typical coarse threaded screws. Specifying the weight would make this a bit easier to suggest an option, but going with the largest toggle bolt you can work with would give you the best option and the most steadfast. Alternately there are special sheet rock ancors that are about 1/2" in diameter, very coarse thread, plastic body with screw, no pre-drilling needed. They are rated to hold 50 pounds. I put in closet organizers in my wife and my own identical closets. One I used toggle bolts (a bit of a pain) and the other the sheet rock anchors. Both are holding several hundred pound of weight (of course this is over many anchors), and are still holding fast. Personally I would go with the anchors.
I've used these big plastic screw-in anchors, and just wanted to vouch for them. They work!
Just as I-zheet said, go find some whirl-in anchors. The plastic will do as well as the metal ones and will tolerate more sizes of screws.
Here is Powers brand version, they call theirs ZipIt.
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