wall plugs for shelves - which ones

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

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had the bathroom done in our 100 year old house, essentially i now have a standard size layer of plasterboard and then into old brick. I need to put up two fairly heavy shelves. Any redocumentation on raw plugs & Screws? i am guessing i will need to go through the plasterboard so standard brick ones ? - i always get muddled up with plasterboard and brick plugs, in my head, you always go clean through the plasterboard for anything more than a picture hook ?

also any rules / guidelines with screws and raw plugs? - probably easier if i just buy a kit that match ?

late to DIY, but keen to learn :D
 
If not using the fixings I linked, I have used brown rawlplugs for years with pretty good success rate.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=brown+rawl+plugs&i=diy&crid=3E6AWZJX21WKP&sprefix=brown+raw+plugs,diy,146&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_15

Also if you have walls similar to mine (late Victorian lathe & plaster) the bricks are pretty fragile and so is the mortar, so it is important to get a good fixing into brick.

If all else fails there is the trusty chemical anchors and thread bar approach, which is overkill, but they are there for life, or until you grind them off.

 
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I use these for most holes in my house https://www.screwfix.com/p/fischer-duopower-long-nylon-wall-plugs-8mm-x-65mm-50-pack/171hl

Depending on the weight of the shelf you may get away with 8 x65mm plugs above, but most plasterboard is 15mm thick, so i prefer to use 10x80mm plugs.

You will need 6mm screws the right length to suit the plug and thickness of the shelf bracket. eg, if shelf bracket is 20mm thick, then i would use 80mm x 6 screws. if shelf bracket is 10mm then use 70mm x 6 screws.
 
Agree with the above, I have taken to using Fischer DuoPower on any fixings now and they are great.

Slightly more expensive but small jobs B&Q sell them in sets with the screws. Screwfix and Toolstation are always out of stock of the length and thread size I need most the time.

Our house is old and mostly plaster and lathe over increasingly softer brick, except our son's extension which is thermablock and plasterboard with a slight gap. I have recently put up Ikea cubes for my daughter and a quite heavy powered blind for my son. All of it is rock solid and the fixing will hold way weight more than the crappy cubes :p.
 
Corefix is great for real heavy duty stuff, but make sure you have ample room to get well into the block.
For more every-day things Fischer DuoPower are my go-to. Definitely a good move to bin the freebie plugs that come with stuff as they're often designed for concrete anyway and don't work well with plasterboard.
 
_Jimlad_ said:
had the bathroom done in our 100 year old house, essentially i now have a standard size layer of plasterboard and then into old brick. I need to put up two fairly heavy shelves. Any redocumentation on raw plugs & Screws? i am guessing i will need to go through the plasterboard so standard brick ones ? - i always get muddled up with plasterboard and brick plugs, in my head, you always go clean through the plasterboard for anything more than a picture hook ?

also any rules / guidelines with screws and raw plugs? - probably easier if i just buy a kit that match ?

late to DIY, but keen to learn :D
Click to expand...

If there is brick there, then any old rawlplugs will do. 7mm or 8mm for No.10 screws. 6mm for No.8 screws.

If' it's dot and dab you may find there is a small gap between the board and the wall.
 
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