this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
174 points (98.3% liked)

Today I Learned

23423 readers
727 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I hate these things. They deform far too easily. Toggle bolts and other metallic anchors are so much nicer to deal with.

[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 50 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Hey, fyi, deforming is how they work.

https://imgur.com/gallery/drywall-anchors-JECOKIJ

The issue is not using the right ones for the task.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

And these are the wrong ones for any kind of drywall, which is like 97.2% of homes in the US. Even brick often has drywall or plaster on the interior now.

They work well in hard materials, like brick, concrete, etc.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 25 points 2 days ago

That's because they were designed for hard materials. Like the ones found in European and Latin American residences.

[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Second to last one, twist in drywall anchors. I prefer the metal myself though.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 days ago

Thanks for that! Very cool way to show how they work. My problem is usually that they deform prematurely (when being pressed into place). Might be a quality issue.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Molly's are my favorite for drywall. They distribute the load well, and don't move once in place.

I don't like those "new" plastic screw-in anchors for drywall. They do work well, but they make as big a hole as molly, without the stability.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I need to learn how to use those properly. I always fuck it up.

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I've actually been pretty impressed with the plastic screw-in type

I haven't had one fail on me yet and they've been plenty stable for my uses. I have some pretty heavy wall shelves hung in my kitchen with them (though to be fair, each shelf is probably held up with about 4-8 of them, not like I'm actually hanging 50-100lbs or whatever they claim to be rated for off of just 1 or 2 of them.

It's been a few years since I hung them, but I think I also got a couple lags into studs as well, but the majority of it is screw-in wall anchors because no one who designs shelves ever seems to make them with standard stud spacing in mind.

Quick and easy to go in, and easier to remove. Sure they leave a bigger hole, but it's not like it's significantly harder to patch a ½inch hole than a smaller hole, it's still in the realm of what I can pretty much just spackle over. And if/when I take them down, I'll probably be doing plenty of painting, spackling, sanding, etc. anyway

[–] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

So I'm supposed to keep screwing for a few rotations after they get flush with the wall?

I've put up a couple anchors the wrong way then. Most of the time there is some movement after becoming flush but not always.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes, until it doesn't screw anymore. You basically took the slack out but you aren't getting any strength.

[–] twinnie@feddit.uk 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They may be better for US walls but wall plugs are much better for other walls.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago
[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

😭 I have two of those actively pulling out of my lathe and plaster walls. I don’t know how to fix it other than just take down the shelves, fully patch it, and never use that part of the wall again.

I should have gone with the plastic ones that reach out behind the thin plaster to grip on, because failure wouldn’t have destroyed the wall, but my dumb ass listened to the dude who told me the metal screw-in setbolt option was the superior option.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

😯 Oh no! I'm so used to dry-wall/gypsum board that I forget that lath and plaster exists.

I'm not super familiar (just DIY) but, I think that you can make a patch that's structural enough to take a new anchor. Definitely would need to be sure that there's enough lath for our to hold onto and likely would want some fiberglass mesh tape to reinforce it.

Looks to be a bit of a pain (cleaning hole corners, using patching plaster and bonding agent, waiting for cure, etc). However, if done right, I think it would be sturdier than a typical patch in drywall.

Do consult someone who knows about the stuff though, like a professional plaster person or builder.

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Haha wasn’t anything personal, or meant to make you feel any sort of way, just an old-school problem with modern tech exacerbation.

My house is 140 years old and modern advice doesn’t apply to most of it unfortunately. Every project ends up being a dozen more projects because nothing from then applies to now.

But I’ve learned. So if I choose to lathe and plaster my next house, well I can fix it, too, damnit.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oof. Mine's just under half that and I get that exactly. Went to replace an outdoor step about a month ago, just to discover that the deck wasn't built to code and will need to be replaced. Everything is like that, either because the previous owner cut corners or the place is just old (like doorframes being out of square and changing by how much with the season).

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Mmm I need to replace my rotted out front porch that is sagging and causing my front door to go out of square but it’s also not supposed to be part of the building at all technically..? I mean most of the additions to my house were never filed.… let’s just pretend that didn’t happen. And the rest of the omfg problem projects didn’t happen either…. The whole owning thing sucks.

[–] ter_maxima@jlai.lu 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'll look for metal ones next time. Getting real tired of everything being plastic these days...

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

Seeing the other comments here, definitely make sure that they are suitable for your walls. What works well for drywall, might be terrible for lath and plaster walls.