How to Install Drywall Anchors to Hang Heavy Stuff on Your Walls

Author: Craig Lloyd / Source: howtogeek.com

If you ever plan to mount something to the wall that’s even remotely heavy, you’ll need to use drywall anchors if a stud isn’t available. Here are the different types of drywall anchors, and how to use each one.

What Exactly Are Drywall Anchors?

Ideally, you want to hang heavy things from your walls by using the studs as the anchor.

However, this isn’t always possible, especially if there’s an exact location you want something hung and there’s not a stud behind it.

Unfortunately, if you were to just drive a screw into drywall, the brittleness of the drywall material wouldn’t allow the threads of the screw to fully bite into the drywall, making the holding strength of the screw pretty weak overall.

This is where drywall anchors can save the day. A drywall anchor goes between the screw and the drywall, biting into the drywall much more effectively than a screw would. Then, you screw into the anchor, so everything stays in place.

Depending on what you’re hanging or mounting, you may want to use a specific kind of drywall anchor, and there are several to choose from.

What You Need

Before we get started, though, there are a few tools you’ll need, most of which you probably already have:

A hammer
A power drill and full drill bit set
Drywall anchors

Make absolutely sure you get a drill bit set and not just one or two drill bits. You need the different sizes since drywall anchors come in all different shapes and sizes.

With that all out of the way, let’s get started!

Expansion Anchors

These types of anchors are the most common, and when you think of drywall anchors, you probably think of these.

They’re small little plastic anchors that are fairly basic, and you’ll see them included in most shelf kits that you can buy at the store.

They’re called expansion anchors because when you drive in the a screw, they expand and push against the drywall in order to bite into it. They’re not the best type to use, since they’re not able to hold a whole lot of weight (maybe 10 to 20 pounds at most), but they’re great for heavier picture frames and small shelves. Anchors will sometimes list the holding strength maximum on the packaging, but if not, it’s best to play it safe and go with a stronger anchor (like the ones discussed below) if you’re unsure.

In any case, to use an expansion anchor, start by drilling a hole in the drywall that’s roughly the same diameter as the anchor.

After that, gently hammer the anchor into the wall. This is where you’ll find out of the hole you drilled is either too big or too small. 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.