We went to Home Despot and bought the burliest looking drywall anchors that we could find, "E-Z Toggle" self-drilling toggle bolts, to hang Trish's new studio shelves with. After a frustrating evening in which one after the other failed for one reason or another, we finally had four of them fastened into the wall, the brackets on, and the shelf resting squarely atop them. Then Trish put a few books on, and the shelf pulled the anchors halfway back through the wall, dumping the books all over her and ripping the wallboard to shreds, revealing that even those bolts which seemed to have deployed didn't work right.
The thing is, if we'd just done a little research on the web for the brands we saw at Home Depot, we would have known not to touch "E-Z Toggle" bolts with a 5-foot shelf. The Natural Handyman had the same experience.
While I sulked in frustration, Trish found what we should have bought in the first place...
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Comments
John posted on Sunday, June 6, 2004 that:
Excellent infographic. I find the big honking plastic ones — the ones that work by expanding as the screw goes on — work very nicely, actually. I haven’t tried mounting bookshelves with those, but they do tend to hold the steel securely.
Trish posted on Tuesday, June 8, 2004 that:
It was quite frustrating, to say the least. The E-Z Toggle anchors had a 75% failure rate, but the new anchors were extremely easy to install and seem to be very solid.
Jim O'Connell posted on Monday, June 14, 2004 that:
Hi - I don’t think you did those right. Wall anchors are supposed to be tightened long after you think you should stop. What happens is the twisting of the bolt brings that threaded front part back, causing the side bits to bend and expand quite a bit. Take one as an experiment and tighten it in a pair of pliers to see what I mean. Once you’ve tightened it enough that it forms a “T” on the other side of the wall, it can’t possibly slip out. (OK - I just wandered in off Google, now to go look around a bit…)
Jacob posted on Monday, June 14, 2004 that:
Hi Jim,
Well, we did try these outside of a wall first to see how they worked. They aren’t supposed to expand at all; the toggle is supposed to flip out and then screw tight against the back side of the wall. The ones you see expanded in the photo got that way by means of a screwdriver inserted from the side to pop them open and release the toggle, which is only held in place by some pips on its sides after you remove the screw. About half of them would not even accept the screw - it would stop while hanging an inch or more out of the wall - and when that happens, you have no choice but to back them out, which completely pulverizes the wallboard they originally bit into.
Jacob
T-money posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 that:
Forget the bolts. If toggle bolt juggling is beyond your abilities (not meant in a condescending way; I’m just saying don’t waste your time if you can’t get it to work!) find the studs and drill right into ‘em. (a cordless screwdriver can substitute if you have no drill. If you have no cordless screw driver, then you have to answer for your sins. They’re REALLY nice!)
P.S.- I prefer the two part toggle bolts: the ones with the triangular fly clamps- you push them through the hole, the spring open, THEN you pull back on them while screwing in at the same time. (pictured here: toggle! )