anchor?
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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Anchor? I hardly knew her!
ETA: happy cake day.
These things are called "Dübel," which is also a casual term for joint in German, and can also be used as a verb: "einen dübeln" means to smoke a joint — all things that help humanity progress.
Interesting! I wonder if it’s in any way linked to the word ‘doobie’?
Funny enough, before "einen dübeln" became smoking weed it was also used for fucking. Which left me very confused a few times.
I hate these things. They deform far too easily. Toggle bolts and other metallic anchors are so much nicer to deal with.
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.
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.
That's because they were designed for hard materials. Like the ones found in European and Latin American residences.
Second to last one, twist in drywall anchors. I prefer the metal myself though.
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.
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.
I need to learn how to use those properly. I always fuck it up.
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
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.
Yes, until it doesn't screw anymore. You basically took the slack out but you aren't getting any strength.
They may be better for US walls but wall plugs are much better for other walls.
Makes sense.
😭 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.
😯 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.
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.
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).
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.
I'll look for metal ones next time. Getting real tired of everything being plastic these days...
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.
The kind of basic plug shown in the article is really poor for anything other than concrete. In my 15 years of experience hanging things on walls, floors, and ceilings professionally, I always recommend the Fischer DuoPower as the best all-around general-purpose anchor. As long as you’re using the correct length, these won’t pull out without taking a big chunk of the wall with it.
Now, if you want the absolute strongest anchor out there - especially for mounting something like a TV stand to drywall - I’d go with a so-called molly anchor. Just keep in mind, these are permanent. Once it’s in, it stays in.
1100 patents! Holy smokes.
Just keep in mind that the upper limit of what you can mount onto plasterboard is the strength of the actual plasterboard itself more than it is the wall plug once you get to the correct plug for your wall type. Plasterboard gives up quite quickly, its around 30kg per square meter, something like tile backer board is like 200kg per square meter.
The most important thing is that its snug and does not wiggle. This means you have to cut a clean hole that is the correct size for the plug, any good plug is marked with the correct size. A wonky hole or one that is too big or too small will cause no end of problems and you have to start again.
If its anything heavy you should be going into the stud or adding in a baton to do it properly. Mounting something like a TV to walls in the UK I will go into the breeze block behind and use ferrules/baton to support the bolt in the gap to the plasterboard.
Good, if older video from Project Farm on different types of rawl plugs, shows both sides of the plug so you get a better idea of whats going on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHb-Tcvkn7M
These wall plugs/the Fischer type are not meant for plasterboard at all. Because Plasterboard is a fucking abomination in terms of building quality.
TIL Jenna Fischer, known as Pam in The Office, is not related to this guy. Or to Gus Fischer, a guy I knew in high school.
Good idea, but we really need to stop shoving plastic everywhere soon.