What do you do when you have to drill a hole in a wall that is too thin to absorb the impact or support the weight held by a screw inside that hole? You need not be disappointed. There are technical ways to still use the wall surface for fastening fixtures and holders, and hanging things. This can be done by simple use of cavity wall fixings. If the term is new to you, then you would be glad to know that these fixings can actually help you hang things to walls of any thickness. They are made to add support to hollow walls or cavity walls so that screws can be fastened and things can be hanged and fixed to the thin hollow walls.
What Are Cavity Wall Fixings Made of?
They are made of a variety of materials and steel is most commonly used. Treated iron, galvanized steel, brass and copper, rubber and vinyl, all sorts of materials are used for such screws. You should choose one as per the purpose and the wall type.
How Cavity Wall Fixings Work?
A thin hollow wall is weaker than a thick wall. This means the amount of support a normal screw would get from it is much lesser. To increase the support, a strong anchor point is created first on the wall. A cavity wall screw comes in two parts mainly. One part is the screw itself. Another part is the metal or rubber cavity, inside which the screw goes in by the screw threads.
The objective of using this special hollow wall fix is to insert this outer screw holder into the wall by making a simple hole on the wall, and then insert the screw with some pressure inside this screw holder. As the pressure of the screw is given on the holder while the threads rotate in, the holder changes shape under the impact. The part of the holder at the backside of the wall surface, bulges in shape to fit around the hole of the wall and creates an anchor.
Now this screw holder is tight on the wall with periphery spread on either sides of the opening hole. This creates a clasp on the wall. And the screw holder takes much of the load which comes on the wall through the item hung on the screw.
What Do You Need to Fix a Screw On a Hollow Wall?
You need only a few items to make a hole on a hollow wall and fit the cavity wall fixture. The first thing you need is a scale to measure the dimensions. The next is a pencil or marker to make accurate markings on the wall for drilling the hole. Next, you need a drilling machine to drill the hole. Make sure you use the right sized drilling pin so that the cavity wall fixings fit right through the hole. A small hole can be compromised, but a bigger hole cannot.
Once the hole is done, you have to push the entire hollow wall fixing through it, and use the pressure of a hammer or the drill to push the entire length of the fixture through the hole. The wide head of the fixture will stick on the front of the wall surface, and make it stop while you strike with the hammer.
Now you need to remove the screw only out of the screw holder fixed on the wall hole. Next you have to screw in the loose screw, and as the threads go in, the impact of the push will reshape the screw holder portion that is behind the wall. That’s how you do this, and your screw is ready to take weights, as you fix or hang things on it over the hollow wall.
