Help mounting cat shelf to wall

[catdiy]

Hi everyone, I'm a beginner DIY person and this is my second time trying to drill something into a wall. It didn't work out very well. Does anyone have any pointers on how to keep this nails embedded into my wall, and sturdy enough to support a 5kg cat? The nails for wall mountingWhat happened after I drilled in the wall for the plastic thing, then screwed in the nails
Thank you!

[Jason]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @catdiy. It's great to have you join us. We trust you'll get loads of inspiration and ideas for upcoming projects from our clever and creative members, as well as plenty of help and support for projects on the go, like this one!

Have you seen the guide How to hang just about anything by @Adam_W? It should be really helpful for you with this project. Have a read and let us know if you have any more specific questions. 

Let me also tag a couple of helpful members in @TedBear and @Brad to see how they would go about securing this shelf.

Jason

[TedBear]

Hi @catdiy 

the wall plugs shown in your photos do not look like those that are shown on the packaging, as being supplied for the job.

The packaging shows plugs that are threaded all the way up, whereas those used look like they may be designed for biting into brick. There is nothing to grip the plaster board as they pass through it and anything that would spread out inside the wall looks like it may be too far inside the wall to be effective.

Plugs for brick go into a narrow tight hole in the brick and then are expanded by the screw going in, such that they grip along the sides of the hole.

For plasterboard, the grip will be either by a deep cutting thread (such as those shown on the packaging) which bites into the plaster board... the drilled hole needs to be just big enough to allow the plug to get started in the correct spot - and then it cuts its own hole as it goes in....   or the other type of plug will have wings that spread out on the inside of the wall when the screw is in. These wings stop the plug coming out and hold the load too.

In that case the drilled hole needs to be just enough such that the plug is slightly forced through, so it will then grip the sides of the plasterboard as you tighten the screw.  If the holes are too big, the plug will simply rotate when you try to do up the screw... and then it can't work to hold anything.

The holes in the photos look to be too large.

I suggest that you get some new plugs that are a bit larger (thicker) than the holes you now have, but which will take screws that will pass through the shelf's holes (you may have to enlarge those holes a little), or if you can't find any suitable plugs consider replacing them with toggle bolts.

These will require a larger hole to let the toggle go through.

But, there is a large range of hollow-wall plugs to choose from, so you will find some that will easily rescue the situation:-

https://www.bunnings.com.au/products/building-hardware/fasteners-fixings/wall-floor-anchors/hollow-w...

[catdiy]

Thank you Jason and TedBear. I'll see how I go following these steps. 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @catdiy,

It's great that you've already received a helpful reply from @TedBear. He is correct that you're trying to use a brick/concrete fixing on the plasterboard. I'd suggest grabbing a packet of these Ramset Nylon WallMate Anchor - 4 Pack, which look to be similar to what should have been supplied. You should be able to use the Ramset WallMates in the holes you've got currently.

Please let us know if you continue to have issues or have questions.

Mitchell