I estimate chandelier weight at 12 pounds. I would say realistically a few pounds, maybe up to 3 pounds if it's a decent nail. If I'm hanging something on the wall in a spot with no stud, how much weight will a nail hold on the drywall until I need an anchor? Instead, there are a few different factors to consider before you can come to an accurate estimate of how much weight you can burden your walls with. Toggles are massively strong. I have a picture to hang. Helpful. In order to remove time as a variable we poured in one gallon of sand every 10 seconds. Check out this compilation of tips for working with drywall to make your next build or repair easier. Suggest find a stud only should it be in the area you want picture hung. If you have a simple medium sized nail at a 45-degree angle, how much weight can that hold? It depends on what you're hanging, what nail you use, what angle you drive it in at. Picture hangers hold pictures on the wall in various sizes. Ad Choices. I've hung 10 pounds or so from one. Four 3/8" toggles can easily hold up most kitchen cabinets on solid 1/2" drywall (though you should, in the "real world", have at least two screws into a wall stud, one upper and one lower). A "puny" 1/8" toggle can safely hold 30 lbs. Drywall screws provide a stronger hold, but cost a bit more than nails. "It's easier to fill in and patch the (typically gray) mortar once something gets removed than to try and patch a red brick and make it flawless again.". I lost some nice things so, YES get anchors!! Was randomly just researching this! 5 pounds would be like the absolute max before the nail literally falls out. 3 Answers. Turnbuckle: Turning increases the tension on the scale, providing a weight reading. Some of the adhesives held so much weight that we had to add five and ten pound weights on top of the bucket full of sand. So don't do that. Answer Save. These sleeves can hold from 10-25 pounds and good for hanging mirrors and picture frames. So instead of driving thin nails into drywall, look for wall studs and hang your decor there. If you leave the nail sticking out and hang something so the weight is on the head of the nail (so the nail is acting like a lever) it's not going to hold as much. Reality: Only bother drilling into the stud if what you're hanging is super heavy. For something especially heavy, like a wall-hung vanity, she recommends having the wall built with a layer or two of plywood before putting on a layer of hardy board, and then tile the wall—this will help the wall bear the weight of the piece. Even 8x10s get studs or anchors in my house. Assuming 1/2″ drywall and joists on 24″ centers (there is no floor above, just a flat roof), how much weight can a 3/8″ toggle bolt bear? hide. Is there some half-measure I can take to mask the shiny nickel a little bit? "Drilling and mounting into the mortar is usually for the purpose of preserving the face of the brick (depending on its condition)," he says. Pull it out, get a fresh nail, continue to slowly drive it into the plastered wall. Myth: You can't mount things on tiled walls. save. Drywall has its own nail. I use common 3" nails for drywall hanging, and they work great for photo frames, mirrors, etc. 3 finishing nail and a hammer will do the job. The heaviest piece I'm hanging is 8.5 pounds. One big truck drives by and that still might fall. Do this also if your tug test (see myth #2) fails, meaning your drywall or plaster and lath walls are too thin. If you drive a nail at an angle and the thing you're hanging is hung in such a way as all the weight is on the nail right where the nail meets the wall then it'll hold quite a bit. So maybe this weekend you'll actually hang all those things? Although the weight is distributed along the rack, most of it is concentrated on the anchors holding it to the wall. A nail in just drywall can't hold more than a few pounds of weight, but a thin nail in a wood stud can typically hold up to 20 pounds and several coarse threaded wood screws in wood studs can typically hold up to 100 pounds or more. Before drilling through the tile itself, make sure they're not made of glass, which can come tempered. These are also a reliable option and can hold up to 20 pounds. It's a lightweight product with little load-bearing strength, and easily marked or damaged. Hollow or drywall anchors are the best way to make sure your wall and object do not get damaged if you are hanging something without a stud. A screw will at least resist sliding out until it tears the drywall out around the screw, so a screw will have marginally more strength than a nail, but still nothing you'll want to rely on. Plastic hangers look like conventional metal ones, but have tow spikes that dig into the drywall, and can hold up to 100 pounds of downward force before failing. To test the strength of each adhesive’s bond, we hung a 5-gallon bucket from each block and poured in sand using a 1-gallon pail. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. While you can certainly go the easy route here by using sticky hooks (like the ones Command makes, some of which are even humidity-resistant), "for anything with weight, you’re going to have to drill into the tile wall and use anchors," says Katie Battaglia, design director at Nemo Tile+Stone. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the HomeImprovement community. My test was with the weight pulling at 90 degrees to the drywall, as would be the case for a wall hanger. A lone nail in drywall? For More Information on How to … Your drywall can withstand weight if you hang items securely and with the proper preparation. "Drilling into and anchoring into brick or mortar (which is cementitious) is more sturdy than drywall—it's much thicker and stronger," explains Edmond Caputo, an expert in art installation and handling who consults for interior designers and gallerists. You can also use a masonry bit to tap into a plaster wall as well, then use a drywall screw to hang the painting from." 50% Upvoted. When choosing drywall screws vs. nails, consider the … "Ideally you'd like to hang anything heavy by hitting a stud behind the drywall—but it's not absolutely necessary for the majority of paintings and pictures most homeowners own," Caputo says (and, yes, that means your standard drawing or painting or DIY artwork, freshly home from the framer, can go right up without bothering to break out a studfinder). I would never consider suspending anything that weighs more 15-20 pounds from 2x4 ceiling joists without bracing and possibly doubling the joists. This thread is archived. With a thin nail, drywall holds only 10 pounds. Hangers and nails are another good choice. Hold-down: A 2×4 screwed to studs provides a solid base. Drywall isn't structural, so the nail will just rip through if it's too heavy. "Some plaster will be very brittle and break off into pieces if you try and drill or drive anything into it without patience." We decided to settle some of these eternally prohibitive questions by calling on a bevy of experts to very kindly bust some age-old wall hanging myths. (If your glass tiles aren't tempered, they are will still be very hard to drill through—she recommends using a mortar joint instead.) A regular nail or screw in drywall is only going to hold up to 10 pounds. Does this change if the weight of the object is divided between two nails to hold the object? I suppose all your picture frames are anchored to wood? The Results: I've some little picture hanging hooks that us a short (less than 1") nail to hold them in place. Hubby used to hand everything with small nails and I was never happy when the things fell to the ground. I think this would be okay but I want to check first and can't seem to find this information online. If you leave the nail sticking out and hang something so the weight is on the head of the nail (so the nail is acting like a lever) it's not going to hold as much. In compression, drywall is much stronger than redditors believe. "Once you start getting into works that are in the 100-pound range, you should try to hit a stud and/or just hire a professional for the job because of inherent risks to yourself and the artwork," he says. The weight of what you’re hanging is the primary consideration when shopping for the best drywall anchor for your project. Play it safe and stay at half of the weight limit of the anchor, especially if you’re using them to hang valuable items on the wall. Get something like that, and you'll have what you need for next time, too. 12 comments. Tension scale: When tension is applied, this scale measures weight in pounds. a regular nail in drywall is not a very good idea at all. There are numerous styles of drywall anchors, and within each style there are different weight-bearing grades. Many different drywall anchors are available. Reality: Plaster and drywall can bear about the same weight. Reality: Plaster and drywall can bear about the same weight. You might want to try a Monkey hook. Equip yourself with a diamond-head drill bit, "measure three times, and then drill" (lest you get it wrong). Reality: Brick is actually sturdier than drywall (duh) but it's harder to re-finish. Drywall can flake and break apart, which is why it is recommended to hang items using an anchor. Art hangs on the walls of this 17th-century convent annex in Valencia that houses David Lladró's apartment (with no fear of it crashing down). 1/8" drywall is pretty flimsy while 7/8" can take quite a tug. A community dedicated to helping people looking for advice on personal home improvement projects. If you drive a nail at an angle and the thing you're hanging is hung in such a way as all the weight is on the nail right where the nail meets the wall then it'll hold quite a bit. "Drywall is softer to drive a nail or screw into, but plaster can range in hardness from super stubborn to butterlike," Caputo explains. If you're nervous anyhow, he recommends the tug test: "It never hurts to give a tug to make sure whatever you've nailed or anchored feels solid." A coat rack can weigh 20 pounds when heavy winter wear is hanging from the pegs. Press J to jump to the feed. I don't care enough to drill out and patch properly and I don't have any matching paint handy. They're designed so the drywall is in compression, which is its strongest axis. They can generally support pictures of up to 20 pounds. Drywall does have zero tensile strength, and little pull out strength. Myth: Mounting objects on brick walls is a very bad idea. https://www.monkeyhook.com/. Reply. The weight capacity varies a lot depending on how you are hanging. ... How much weight can drywall hold without anchors? When applying any kind of drywall anchor, you should understand how they work and which screw anchor may work best to put into a hollow wall. High impact or abuse resistant drywall is stronger than type X or regular rock. The amount of weight that your drywall can hold largely depends on the mounting equipment you opt for. For instance, I would like to do things like this: It's hung with 5 screws. The whole thing weighs approximately 50kg (110 pounds) so we can say that each screw holds approximately 10kg (22 pounds). Yea I would never do it though. HO asked me to swag her chandelier to a spot midway between ceiling joists. There are different types of anchors for different applications. 2 to 3 lbs (~ 0.9 - 1.4 kg), I'd say. Anchors play a big part in how much weight a wall can hold. I'll finish by explaining that the tension force on the screw in the above illustration is the length A divided by length B, multiplied times the weight of the object. Otherwise, use 'spider' screw for dry Wall or other hollow backing or special drywall hook and nail, which are sold according to the weight it will hold. 35 year old house. Use a lead anchor or masonry sleeve if you're going to drill directly into brick. If you can't lift the heavy antique mirror yourself, hire a professional (and be sure he or she finds the stud!). If you are new here, please review posting/commenting guidelines. Favourite answer. At best, you can expect to hang objects weighing between five and ten pounds, but even those won’t hold for a long time. A nail is drywall is only able to hold a few pounds at most and should not exceed 10 pounds of weight. https://www.todayshomeowner.com/testing-wall-anchors-and-picture-hangers/, The cheapo picture hangers (that insert a nail around a 45 degree angle and expose a small hook) hold a surprising amount of weight and are probably fine for most day-to-day hanging efforts, Related question, while I'm here: I'm an idiot and put a molly bolt in the wrong place. A thin nail in hollow drywall will leave even a light picture frame on the floor, but use the right hardware and technique, and your vertical drywall might be able to hold as much as 100 pounds. How much the drywall will withstand will depend largely upon its thickness. Even if the joists don't actually break, eventually, the nails or screws fastening the the drywall will loosen and the drywall will sag. Not only the weight of the object but also the shape and … © 2020 Condé Nast. So, How Much Weight Can Drywall Hold Really? Check the directions on the packaging for your wall anchors. Useless response. MOLLY BOLTS. It's easy to get caught up worrying if the mortar will crumble away and send your artwork smashing to the floor, but that's unlikely. But with proper equipment, you can hang up to 100 Lbs on the drywall. I'd say about 5lbs...depends on the size of the nail.