Heavy Duty Plasterboard Fixings - The Ultimate Guide

It is vitally important to properly hang items on your plasterboard walls, failure to do so could result in damage to both your walls and whatever you are trying to secure to them. 

However, with the right heavy duty plasterboard fixings you can safely attach larger and heavier objects to your plasterboard walls without risk. In this section we’re going to explore the different types of heavy duty fixings available for plasterboard, and look at some of the more popular branded options on the market.

Types of Heavy Duty Plasterboard Fixings

Rosett Cavity Fixings

Rosett Cavity Fixings work great as heavy duty plasterboard fixings. They are a nylon framed anchor, designed to flatten against the other side of your plasterboard. They are inserted into a pre-drilled hole, and expand when tightened by a screw. 

The drill bit needed for the hole will be included in the product specification. The surface area provided by a Rosett Cavity makes them an ideal heavy duty fixing. They are also easy to remove without damaging your walls, and can hold around 80kg in weight.

Hollow Wall Anchor

Hollow wall anchors, much like Rosett Cavity Fixings, expand on the other side of a plasterboard wall to secure the fixing in place. They are comprised of an anchor and a screw, and can either be installed manually or with a hollow wall anchor setting tool. Both methods require inserting the hollow wall anchor into a pre-drilled hole, the size of which will be included with the product specifications. 

A setting tool fits around the screw and easily pulls the screw back whilst fitting the hollow wall anchor. If installing manually make sure to push the teeth of the hollow wall anchor into the plasterboard first to stop it from spinning. Then insert the screw and tighten it to expand the anchor, securing it in place. It is worth bearing in mind that hollow wall anchors cannot be removed once installed. 

When buying hollow wall anchors make sure their length is the length of your plasterboard wall, as longer sizes are available and will not be secure within your wall. Hollow wall anchors can support loads of 20 to 50 kg.

Toggle Bolt

Toggle bolts, sometimes called spring toggles, are a type of heavy-duty plasterboard fixing with metal wings that open inside a hollow wall. These wings support heavier weights by securing themselves against the other side with a large surface area. A greater surface area allows the pressure to be distributed across the plasterboard, allowing it to support more weight secured to it. 

Toggle bolts are inserted into a pre-drilled hole, the size of which will be noted on the product specifications. As you screw in the bolt, the toggle will tighten against your wall. While you can unscrew them, the toggle will drop behind your wall. A metal toggle bolt can hold about 45kg in weight, and can also be used on ceilings, though it would only hold about a third of the weight.

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Gravity Toggle 

Functioning like a toggle bolt, a gravity toggle is a machine screw with a hollow metal tube on a pivot attached to it. Once the toggle is through the wall it swings down to lay flat against the plasterboard wall. Turning the screw in will pull it tight, much like the toggle bolt.  

Also like the toggle bolt, it can be removed, but part of the bolt will be lost behind the wall. Gravity toggles have comparable weight limits to toggle bolts, and they also work in ceilings, again only holding a third of the weight.

Popular Brands of Heavy Duty Plasterboard Fixing

As well as the universal products listed above, there are several popular branded heavy duty fixings

Gripit

The Gripit is a branded heavy-duty plasterboard fitting designed to hold heavy weights such as radiators, televisions, or boilers. They come in four sizes, with their 25mm blue model designed to hold up to 113kg in weight. You will need to drill a hole into your plasterboard wall of the product width beforehand. 

Once the Gripit is securely installed in your plasterboard, you can use a screwdriver to turn the centre of the gripit clockwise, which will open up arms on the other side of your plasterboard wall, securing it in place. Gripit’s can be easily removed by turning the centre anti-clockwise.

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Geefix

Geefix sells what they claim to be the world's strongest heavy-duty plasterboard wall fixing. It involves a large plastic anchor, which is inserted through a pre-drilled 1-inch hole and aligned with a plastic plug by pulling on a connected string. The string is then removed, leaving a connected plug and anchor with three holes. The two holes on either side are secured with small screws, leaving the centre hole for the main screw. 

In tests, a shelf constructed with two Geefix fittings can hold around 120kg. Geefix’s can be removed from the plasterboard, but you will lose the anchor behind the wall while doing so. It is worth considering with both Gripit’s and Geefix’s that they will leave behind comparatively large holes in your plasterboard when removed.

Screwing Into studs

While this guide demonstrates that securing heavier items to plasterboard is certainly possible, it is worth considering screwing into wooden studs. While this obviously limits you in terms of where you can place your fittings, it will be considerably more sturdy. 

If looking to attach wall fixings to studs you should avoid the knock method and instead invest in a stud finder, which will allow you to pinpoint the location of studs and screw directly into the centre of them to be as secure as possible. A stud detector is also useful for drilling into plasterboard, to make sure you don’t screw into a pipe or electrical wiring.

What Heavy-Duty Plasterboard Fixing is Best For You?

There are numerous inexpensive options for heavy-duty plasterboard fixings. Almost all of them operate in a very similar fashion, anchoring the bolt with a large surface area on the other side of the wall. When making your decision it is worth considering how much weight you want to hang, whether you will be hanging it on a wall or a ceiling, and whether you want to be able to remove the fixing.