Dry Lining Fixings & Accessories: Your Guide

Attaching anything to your freshly decorated dry-lining wall can be a cause for concern. Thankfully there are a range of fixings on the market specifically built to install items on plasterboard walls.  

Whether it’s wall plugs or plastic toggles for light weights, all the way up to specialist heavy-duty fixings like hollow wall anchors and toggle bolts, there are plasterboard fixings for everything from picture frames to radiators. It is also possible to fix heavy items directly to the wooden studs on your wall. In this quick overview, we will also look at fixings for suspended ceilings, the screws used to attach plasterboard to stud walls, and the adhesives available to secure plasterboard panels directly to a solid wall.

Plasterboard Fixings

Dry lining fixings are designed to hold weights as light as a couple of kg or as heavy as 100kg. Smaller choices would be items like hollow wall plugs, which are easy-to-use lightweight fixings hammered into a drilled hole. Plastic toggles are lightweight fixings that expand on the other side of the plasterboard, fixing themselves in place. Hollow wall anchors are sturdier fittings, designed to brace against the other side of a hollow wall when installed. Toggle bolts have folding wings that open up on the other side of a plasterboard, allowing them to firmly hold larger weights. 

Which fixing works best for you can vary on more factors than just weight, with some fixings becoming permanently embedded within a wall, while others allow for easy removal. Additionally, some fixings are easy to install, like wall studs, whereas others like hollow wall anchors require a specialist tool to install. Some, such as toggle bolts, work better on a plasterboard ceiling, though they won't be able to hold as much weight compared to a wall.

There are branded options available for heavy-duty dry-lining fixings. Geefix sells what they claim to be the strongest plasterboard fixing on the market, requiring a large hole through which a long plastic anchor is inserted and secured to a plug. 

Gripit’s function similarly, except with plastic wings opening up on the other side of your wall. Both of these can hold 100kg of weight to a plasterboard panel.

Fixing Items Directly to Studs

Heavier items like TVs can be attached directly to wooden or metal wall studs, which can offer a more secure attachment to your dry-lining wall. While it limits you in terms of where you can hang your items, fixing directly to studs by screwing into them will hang a considerably higher weight than a plasterboard fixing. The best way to find studs within your wall is with a stud finder, which is also great at checking for pipes and wiring within your wall.

Suspended Ceiling Fixings

There are a variety of fixings available for suspended ceilings, helping hang your ceiling in place or secure the tiles within it. There are clips, connectors, and edge profiles to keep the tiles in place. There are also caddies or brackets to secure the suspended ceiling framework to the wall. A suspension wire is used to secure the grid to the ceiling joists.

Plasterboard Screws

Plasterboard screws are used to attach plasterboard panels to wood or metal studs. W-type screws are long and thin, designed for screwing plasterboard into wooden studs. S-type screws are designed with a sharper point for penetrating metal, making them ideal for affixing plasterboard panels to metal studs. S-type screws have a finer thread and are self-tapping. W-types have coarse threads and require further drilling to secure.

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Plasterboard Adhesive

When attaching plasterboard directly to a solid wall, there are two choices in terms of plasterboard adhesive to use, powdered or foam. Powdered is mixed with water and applied to the wall using the dot and dab method, while foam is applied to the plasterboards themselves, which are then held against the wall. Both are comparatively long-lasting.

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Creating Secure Plasterboard Walls

Dry lining fixings are used for two purposes, attaching items to a plasterboard wall or ceiling, or attaching plasterboard panels to a wall. For attaching items to your plasterboard walls, you have a variety of options. For attaching to stud walls or solid walls, your options are more limited.

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