Bodged up plasterboard fixings when trying to put up a shelf

NorthernKitty

Ouch! Every time I do anything around this house, something snaps, breaks or goes kaput. Haven't space in my bedroom for any more furniture so was planning to put shelves up all around. I will make sure the boxes aren't too heavy. Ikea said the shelves can take up to 7KG but didn't supply any fixings! Don't want 7KG above my head anyway. 

grumbler

NorthernKitty said:

 Also don't know if I could reposition the shelf (the fixings on the 80cm shelf were 70cm apart as that's what Ikea instructions said

Ignore the instructions. The brackets can be 60 of even 40 cm apart unless you want to put something very heavy close to very side of the shelf.

no idea how to remove the two fixings that worked successfully! Could cry as just painted the new house before moving in and now I'm bodging it up cm by cm!

That's exactly why I don't like this sort of fixingx - difficult to remove. If you have a drill driver you can try drilling them out with a drill bit for metal.

Hopefully, you have at least one spare tin of paint left. If not, buy one. In this case you can be not afraid of damaging the plasterboard as you can easily repair it and paint over.

FreeBear

NorthernKitty said: Ikea said the shelves can take up to 7KG but didn't supply any fixings! Don't want 7KG above my head anyway. 

7Kg may be the weight limit of the shelf, but it will ultimately depend on how well it is fixed to the wall (and also the type of wall).

Do you have a name for this shelf or a link to the web page ?

flashg67

You could try 'Gripit' wall fixings - they do a kit with the drill bit included and need quite a large hole so you might be able to use th current holes and just enlarge them

ThisIsWeird

NorthernKitty said:

Hi, thanks all, am trying to process all your  information!  Head filled with cotton wool! Somewhere I have one of those magnetic stud detectors so for other walls I will definitely use that and try and attach it to that. Thanks. 
Not sure if I can make new holes in brackets as they have metal things to hook the screws onto (don't know technical terms) and they are shaped.
 Also don't know if I could reposition the shelf (the fixings on the 80cm shelf were 70cm apart as that's what Ikea instructions said, and either side of above electric sockets) as no idea how to remove the two fixings that worked successfully! Could cry as just painted the new house before moving in and now I'm bodging it up cm by cm! 

I'd assumed - foolishly - that they were Ikea's common braced timber brackets, so easy to drill new holes through.

It would help us, NK, if we had pics of where this was going, the brackets, the shelves, some sizes :-)

NorthernKitty

Sorry, can't do pics at present. The small one like this for the plasterboard wall

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tranhult-sandshult-wall-shelf-aspen-s69326096/
The top hole for screws is one of those metal keyhole shaped things that you slide the screw down onto. 

ThisIsWeird

NorthernKitty said:

Sorry, can't do pics at present. The small one like this for the plasterboard wall

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tranhult-sandshult-wall-shelf-aspen-s69326096/
The top hole for screws is one of those metal keyhole shaped things that you slide the screw down onto. 

Ah, so it is the gallows brackets I'd imagined! 
I usually fit these by screwing right through then, as the 'keyhole' fixings can add an extra level of awkwardness. The only issue about screwing through the upper section is getting access to the screw with the screwdriver not being hindered by the brace in the way.
A helpful feature is the large flat batten that sits against the wall - this will hide a multitude of sins behind it :-)
Ok, these should give you large flexibility with spacing - they don't have to be exactly 700mm. So, step 1 is to locate your vertical studs. No chance of a photo or sketch of the wall, showing corners, doors, whatevs? Often a stud in the corner, and the next one 24" or 600mm out from this. Would this be any good for you?

The fixing that went wrong - is this for the upper 'keyhole' fixing, or the lower screw-through? Or both?

NorthernKitty

One fixing went wrong for the bottom left bracket, the other that went wrong was for the top right of the bracket! The bit of wall is only a metre wide or so. The other bedroom backs onto it. Can't do illustrations presently, sorry! But imagine 4 holes in the wall, two on left one above the other an Ikea bracket's holes distance apart, 70cm apart 2 on right, two are 2 with neat metal fixings in, the other two with larger holes and the metal things sticking out balanced in the holes so I don't lose them! 

Postik

I use Molly bolts and the tool shown in the second post to fix them. If that's what you've used you can't do it without the tool because the legs on them just become a mess if you try and do it by just screwing them. Buy the tool and watch a video online how to use it.

There's also a video online how to remove them. One way which sometimes works is undoing the screw a bit and tapping it with a hammer. I've had others where I've managed to just push it through the plaster board and it falls inside the wall.

Bear in mind on a new build with hollow walls hanging pictures and mirrors is generally fine, but anything that has any "movement", i.e a towel rail where you constantly put a towel on and off, or a shelf where you constantly put items on and off, will eventually come loose, or so I am told.

Mutton_Geoff

jonnydeppiwish! said:

As @grumbler said, find the stud work and wood screw into that. Should be 60com apart, use a fine screwdriver to put through the plasterboard to the wood stud. To find the first studs, tap the wall and listen for a solid tap rather than a hollow sound. Try it a few times first so you can identify the difference in tap.

Or buy a StudBuddy to locate the wall studs to fix into. Use it to find the plasterboard screws which is where the studs will be then measure 60cm either side and hunt for the other studs.