Toggle Fixing Problem

Never use toggle fixings because you can't remove the screw without loosing the toggle bit.

Hollow wall anchors are the strongest fixings for plasterboard & once 'set' you can remove the screw.

If you plan to use these regularly the setting tool (third block down) is great. You can just do them up

andy has brought this to us :

They all do that, you have to unscrew them more along the bolt and push them further through the hole, so they can swing around to latch onto the rear of the panel.

Toggle fixings are pretty poor IME. You need to insert plenty of spare bolt to give space for the wings to spring open inside the wall. However any obstruction or insulation in the wall will usually render them useless. Hollow wall anchors are the beasties to go for for heavy loads, or ready drives for lighter weight stuff.

andy,

As John Rumm has said, hollow wall anchors such as these may be far better:

It's too late now, but I have always wondered why builders don't put extra timber in bathroom and toilet walls to accommodate the things that people need to put on walls in those rooms. Like a 50kg cistern, toilet roll holder, towel rails, mirrors, heaters etc etc.

on 03/10/2010, Matty F supposed :

How could they determine when building the wall, where the extra timbers might be needed? They would either need to know in advance, or give 100% coverage.

Had this in ahouse in France: 2 cabinets to put in the bathroom, one each side of the basin. RH one went up with no trouble; LH one - toggle fixing in, tighten screw, fixing came out. On the RH side there was GF in the wall; on the LH side there was polystyrene! GF is pushed aside and PS isn't, so do you have that in the wall?

Assuming that the walls have timber studs 600mm apart with nogs half way up the wall (like in almost every house in NZ) I would put some extra vertical nogs in every likely place. e.g. the cistern probably goes behind the toilet seat, and requires a toilet roll holder nearby.

Matty F submitted this idea :

That would involve some level of agreed standardisation.

It was that reason that made me use ply rather than plasterboard in the bathroom.

..in wife's preferences..

A mirror will have a vertical (shear) load so fixings shouldn't be difficult.

Particularly the preference that the toilet cistern doesn't fall on the floor like mine wants to. The builder and plumber assured me that a low cistern, whatever you guys call it, will flush properly and it didn't. Having moved the cistern up where it should be, there's nothing in the wall to attach it to.

In the last bathroom I did I used 18 mm WBP ply for the walls rather than plasterboard. You can fit anything anywhere with ordinary wood screws. If you think fire is a risk you can clad it with plasterboard too, I didn't as it was covered with tiles and fire retardant plastic (like Formica) sheets.

In the last bathroom I did I used 18 mm WBP ply for the walls rather than plasterboard. You can fit anything anywhere with ordinary wood screws. If you think fire is a risk you can clad it with plasterboard too, I didn't as it was covered with tiles and fire retardant plastic (like Formica) sheets.

Some of us do ;-)

Thats just modern "water saving" low volume bogs for you. Many low water volume bogs don't clear on a single flush so you have to flush 'em a second or third time. No doubt using as much, if not more, water than the older higher volume bogs....

Don't forget many modern bogs have dual flush and you need to hold the handle down if you want a "big" flush. Lots of people never read the destructions so probably don't know.

Some do, we have one (prolly a cheapo) that is devoid of a siphon/syphon but has a flap-valve instead, best flush we've ever had, anywhere. Virtually guaranteed to flush anything away first time, spiders sometimes not. It seems to dump (scuse the term) lots of water, fast.