Fixing brackets to new house walls

[stevesmith]

I have a new house that I need to put up all sorts of fixing brackets, pictures, curtain rails to the inner walls.

But all the walls seem to be hollow, ie plaster board I think

Whats the best method of fixing into it ???

I've got some 'metal self drive plugs with screws' As these are about

27mm total length, what happens if I screw these into the plaster board and there is something solid behind the board, ie brick or wood battons etc.

[Lobster]

Depends entirely on what load you will eventually be putting on the fixings; for some the plasterboard will take the load OK, others not. Look at the archives of this ng for lots of info on this.

David

[meow2222]

the less you fix to it the better. Where possible fix to studs, or in some cases to the blockwork behind the PB. PB will take light loads quite happily as long as the light loading is never exceeded, but even a coathook will pull through the PB over a year or so.

The best of the hollow wall fixings include metal toggles and giant screw threaded things.

NT

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that stevesmith formulated :

There are three possible choices...

1. Find the wooden studs and arrange fixings to fix to suite them - that would be essential for the heavier loads anyway. An electronic stud finder might be of use for that, but I have not found them all that useful. I tap with a finger tip on the PB and listen for the change in tone to locate the studs.
2. Use those things you describe above, assuming these are the things which screw themselves into the plasterboard, but they are only good or the lightest of loads - too much and they tear out.
3. Toggle bolts. You make clean hole in the PB big enough to pass the wings of the toggle through, then offer up the item to be fixed, complete with bolt and toggle. They are a little stronger than 2, but still not good enough for heavy items. They also have the disadvantage that you cannot take the item down again without loosing the toggle.

If you are offered plastic things like rawlplugs with wings, forget them I have never found them very useful beyond what you could do anyway by gently screwing in a normal wood screw into PB.

[Phil L]

Your inner walls, IE dividing walls will probably be 3X2 timbers with PB affixed...IME you can't affix anything substantial to a pb wall unless you screw directly into the timbers...you can hang pictures up on pb and that's about your limit, even then, don't stand under it! Things like curtain rails aren't too bad because the timbers are usually around 16 inches apart so you can fix into these...don't expect to find brick because there aren't any - only the exterior walls have masonry of any kind and these will be blocks but probably under plasterboard which is fixed by drylining adhesive, usually around 15-20mm thick, meaning they are hollow behind too...one or two dividing walls downstairs may also be block and drylining.

HTH

[Lobster]

I'm surprised; I find them absolutely fine for (relatively) low loads and use them all the time. Important to use the correct size screw, especially length (which has to be considerably longer than you'd expect in order for the 'wings' to open and engage.

David

[Roger Mills]

If by 'new' you mean built recently, rather than just new to you, chances are that the inside faces of the outer walls are dry lined by a method which sticks plasterboard straight onto the blockwork using dabs of adhesive rather than battens.

Getting firm fixings can present a bit of a challenge - and you need long screws which go into the blockwork. Even then, if that's *all* you do, the plasterboard simply gets distorted when you tighten the screws. If you're lucky, and happen to drill through a 'dab', it's ok because the the dab stops the board from being pulled any closer to the blocks.

So you really need to create pseudo dabs at the fixing points. This is a two stage process. First, drill a hole just through the plasterboard. Then inject enough gripfill through the hole for it to spread out and locally fill the gap between the board and block. Allow the gripfill to set and then drill right through into the block. You can then use a flange-less rawlplug, pushed right through the board into the block, plus a long screw - or simply use a screw of the type which screws directly into brick or block without requiring a plug.

If your internal walls (the walls between rooms) are also hollow, these will have a wooden studding frame, clad with plasterboard. You really need to find the studs - a stud detector is useful! - and screw into them, since you can't safely attach anything heavy just to plasterboard.

[The Medway Handyman]

You do have what IMO are the best plasterboard fixings.

There are three types of 'hollow' wall;

A) A lightweight block wall with plasterbord sheets simply stuck to it - by 'dot & dab' adhesive method.

B) A lightweight block wall with plasterbord sheets fixed to wooden battens approx 12mm thick.

C) A stud work partition. A timber frame of 63mm timber 'studs' covered in plasterboard.

You need to buy a good 'stud detector'. Many are available, some better than others IMO. This should identify the battens or studs which will be typically at 16cm or 20cm centres.

Another tip to find either studs or battens is to look at the skirting board carefuly. You can often see the filled holes where the skirting has been screwed to the battens or studs.

Any 'stud detector' will just give crazy results on 'dot & dab' walls.

If you can reliably find studs or battent, normal woodscrews will give a good fix.

Thankfully you can buy 'universal' fixings in the DIY sheds, which are not cheap, but apparently give a secure fix in any sort of wall.

I carry about 10 different fixings onboard to cope with this problem.

[Stephen Dawson]

Sorry, there is another method. There is now more use of sheet steel batten for fixing plasterboard to and this has very little strength.

We use thre main types of fixings with plasterboard.

1. Redi-drives , steel screws ito plasterboard an then a scew into the fixing, good for light weight loads only.
2. Expanding anchors - we use Hilti's HHD anchor system with the setting tool, very good for radiatirs skirting boards and the like.
3. 2 chemical system - we use Hilti HIT HY20 with a seive and inset sleeve and then screw as normal. We have used this system for install wall hung kitchen units with no problem.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Happy New Year

-- Regards

Steve Dawson

[The Medway Handyman]

I'd forgotton that. Perhaps my brain just wants to blot out the thought :-)

I use those a lot & find them very good.

Not tried either of those. I'll have a look - thanks for the info.

[stevesmith]

Where can I find more info on this type of plasterboard fixing

As the chances are my new house that was thrown up in just a few months, will have used the most cheapest and quickest method of putting up plasterboard.