I hired a "professional" painting crew to paint the stairs area, where the crew installed new brackets for the handrail. Unfortunately I did not supervise the work myself. I recently noticed that I have two problems:
- The screws for one bracket are not going into a stud! I think the bracket was attached to the plaster.
- The top two holes are stripped where the screw will spin freely. I believe that those two screws do not touch the lath board that is behind the plaster.
How should I fix the stripped hole in the plasterboard? Every time I am removing the screws all three holes get slightly larger as a bit of the plaster comes out too.
Should I start using plastic anchors? I'd like to re-use the three #10 1 1/2" screws that came with the brackets if possible.
By the way my house was built in the 1950s.
Best Answer
Screws in wallboard do not support anything. Unless your screws hit a stud or an anchor of some sort, the bracket is decorative, not functional.
If there is not a stud in the immediate vicinity, you need to use a serious anchor. I would recommend using a strap toggle type anchor behind the bottom screw and one of the top screws.
The bolt can be replaced with a flat head version if you need that for your bracket.
I would use a plastic anchor for the third hole.