A drywall anchor is designed to securely hang framed pictures, mirrors, clocks and shelving on walls. Nails and screws are not made for walls such as drywall, paneling and tile. They can easily slip out of these walls without the additional reinforcement that an anchor provides.
Hangers and Nails Can Hold the Weight on Drywall
They can hold up to 20 pounds with the proper nail, such as a regular diploma frame. Flat mounted hook and anchor can hold up to 50 pounds.
In most cases, if a drywall anchor fails then it simply wasn't the right type of anchor for the job. Trying to use smaller or weaker anchors for heavier loads will often result in failure because they simply don't achieve enough grip on the surrounding material to hold the load.
The weight restrictions listed on drywall anchor packaging will be based on a certain wall thickness. If you're not sure, assume your walls are one-half-inch thick. Most importantly, do not use any drywall anchor in a ceiling unless it's specifically rated for that application.
“Because drywall is too weak to hang things from, a drywall anchor is necessary,” explains Matt Michaels, a spokesman for Lowe's Home Improvement in Charlotte, NC. The anchor essentially allows you to insert screws into the wall without causing the soft drywall to crumble around it.
What are the Strongest Drywall Anchors? If you use either the threaded anchor or the molly bolt you'll do just fine. They can easily hold 50 pounds. If you want to hang something a very large, heavy picture or mirror these no stud picture hangers are the absolute BEST.
Since the purpose of a drywall anchor is to stabilize a screw, it must be at least one size bigger than the screw.
There's never a stud when you need one. If you're looking for a clever solution to hang a picture or other fixture to drywall, try one of these. Whether fastening a framed picture, mirror, shelf, or curtain rod to a wall, it's always best to screw or nail directly into a wall stud.
Drywall screws are hardened so that the Phillips slots won't strip out under the stress from high-speed screw guns. Wood screws are thicker and made of softer metal, making them more snap-resistant. Different thread patterns make the screws work slightly differently too.
Typically when you want to hang a heavy item on the wall where there is no stud, you have to get out your drill, drill a hole, hammer in a wall anchor, and then screw in a large screw.
If you put even moderate outward force on one, however, it can easily pull right out of the wall. The easy repair is to replace it with a larger conical anchor, but that anchor will probably also pull out in time. A more effective solution is to replace it with a plastic screw-in anchor, a molly bolt or a toggle bolt.
Screws or nails popping out of the wall indicate that the drywall is not properly secured to the frame in that area. Simply screwing or nailing the fasteners back into the wall won't fix the problem. Instead, you need to insert new fasteners in an undamaged spot near the popped fastener to secure the drywall.
Drywall anchors are stable and secure when installed properly. You must not exceed the listed drywall anchors' weight limit. You can use drywall anchors for these home tasks: TV mounts: It is possible to mount a bracket holding a 30-pound TV on drywall without drilling the bracket into a stud.
A nail is drywall is only able to hold a few pounds at most and should not exceed 10 pounds of weight. To can significantly increase the weight capacity by using drywall anchors or nailing into a stud.
You must screw into studs when mounting a TV on the wall. Do not use hollow-wall anchors, as they cannot support the weight of TV wall mount brackets and the television. Once you've picked an ideal location for hanging a TV on the wall, run a stud finder along the top of the paper.
Drywall only, please: Don't use drywall screws for sub-floors, tile backing or other non-drywall applications. These denser materials can break the smaller #6 screw during installation. Use a #8 or larger for these jobs.
A temperature far in excess of 1,600ºF causes the screws to be more brittle. If they're too brittle, they tend to snap when driven.
When it comes to working with drywall, not all fasteners are created equal. Because of the way drywall is constructed, it's important to use screws that provide a strong, long-lasting hold. They need to allow for the appropriate amount of countersinking too.
With a rubber mallet or hammer, lightly tap the anchor into the wall until you get to the threads. Use a screwdriver to screw the anchor into the wall until the head of the anchor is flush with the drywall. Again, if you opt to use a drill go slow and be careful.
Wall anchors can be used in drywall, concrete, brick, metal or wood, and installation takes just a few steps.
Traditional metal toggle bolts are the strongest of the bunch, but they're not the simplest to install because they require drilling a hole that's approximately three times wider than the diameter of the bolt (necessary to insert the anchor).
You want the anchor to go in fairly smoothly with a bit of resistance, but you don't want to be fighting with it to get it to go in. Hammer the anchor in until it's flush with the wall.
To get the right-size hole, measure the shank of the drill bit against the front of the anchor -- its diameter should be the same size or 1/16 inch more than that to make the opening for the screw. If the diameter of the anchor is displayed on the packaging, drill the hole with a bit of the same diameter.