Drywall – What’s the strongest anchor for something heavy in double drywall

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I have a party-wall in my apartment-née-condo that seems to have two sheets of drywall installed against eachother. All attempts to find some sort of stud or resilient channel / furring strip have failed miserably; short of going Hulk and tearing out a hole large enough to stick my head in and look for studs, I've given up. (And I don't have the drywall-repair skills to seriously do that; if it can't be repaired with spackle, I'm not going to try it.)

I've looked at quite a few anchors; but most (toggles, mollies, and the like) of them seem to assume a standard(?) 1/2-inch thick sheet, or so. All the ones I have certainly do. I don't want to fall back on using plastic-expansion plugs, if I can avoid it; I hear they're extremely unreliable.

Does anybody know if high-shear-capacity drywall anchors exist that latch onto double-thickness drywall? Or have other advice for me?

(For context: I'm installing a large shelving system, that should ideally be able to support quite a bit of weight.)

Best Answer

It's not unusual for the wall between tenants to be made with an extra layer of drywall. The Snaptoggle will work in those walls:

It will easily handle the thickness you're dealing with, and it's easier to work with than regular old fashioned toggles.

Related Solutions

Drywall – How to fix over-tightened metal drywall anchor

If the anchor has been overtightened and is now loose in the wall, it cannot be salvaged. The plaster in the wall (or the drywall) has been pulverized and will not hold this anchor or any other.

You need to remove the anchor and the screw.

AMENDED ANSWER

Based on new information from the Original Poster, the anchor is a molly type that mushrooms behind the drywall. The best way to remove these is to push them in rather than pull them out.

Insert an awl or a very narrow screwdriver alongside the anchor, pushing toward the hollow in the wall. Do this repeatedly around the circumference. You are basically crushing the little bit of plaster that is hold the collar of the anchor on the surface of the wall. You shoUld then be able to gently push the anchor into the wall hollow where it will drop into the bottom if the cavity.

If you have not damaged the area too much, you may be able to replace the drywall anchor with a strap toggle type anchor.

toggle

The legs on this anchor slide to move the crossbar parallel to them. The crossbar is slid into the hole and the legs are then adjusted so that the crossbar is now perpendicular (but parallel to the inside surface of the wall. The front plate on the toggle is then slid tight to the wall and the extra legs are snapped off. The hanging item is then secured by a bolt that goes through the crossbar.

If the hole from the original anchor is much bigger than the toggle diameter, you probably need to patch the hole and move to a different, sound section of the wall and start again.

This answer discusses a range of mounting methods.

In general, I try to avoid molly type anchors because they are prone to the very problem you experienced.

 The links and images are for illustration purposes only and are not endorsements

Drywall – Will a drywall anchor work fine after it’s already open or engaged

It depends on the type of anchor and the length of the screw, but I think you may have another problem.

Most drywall anchors rely on the screw to expand the anchor and secure it into the drywall. In these cases, if the screw is not into the anchor to an adequate depth, the anchor will not have sufficient purchase in the sheetrock.

With this said, however, if you are putting up a shelf that you plan to put any sort of weight on (books, etc.), sheetrock anchors are a very poor choice. You would definitely want the majority of your anchors secured into a stud.

If you must anchor to the sheetrock, then you may want to consider butterfly anchors (toggle bolts) rather than the screw in surface anchors. They will provide better support.

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