What is the Maximum Weight You Can Hang on a Plasterboard Wall?
So you want to hang something heavy on a plasterboard wall? Maybe a TV, Radiator or even a large mirror. Regardless of what it is you are hanging on the plasterboard, you are here because you want to know what the maximum weight plasterboard can hold is. Well, let’s have a look and work it out!
Which way will the weight be hanging?
This is the first thing you need to think about. Plasterboard is a lot stronger when the weight is going down through it, i.e. when it is on a wall. It is a lot weaker when the force is coming straight out through it, i.e. if it was on a ceiling.
Tile Ratings
Gypsum plasterboard is rated for 32kg/m2 when tiling. While this doesn’t directly translate into the weight it can hold in relation to a shelf or radiator, it does give us a very good starting point.
Plasterboard Fixings
The most important part of this whole conundrum is the fixings that you decide to use. Better fixings can hold more weight, that much is obvious. But some fixings can even increase the amount of weight the plasterboard itself can hold. This is because they spread out on the back of the board and therefore spread the weight out over a larger area.
For the best possible fixings, I recommend these Geefix fixings. the amount of weight they can take as a fixing is insane, and they also help spread the weight they are holding out over a larger area.
These fixings have a large plastic bar that spreads out behind the plasterboard, increasing the amount of weight the plasterboard can take.
These fixings are rated to 270KG! But that is not a realistic weight to hang on them as your plasterboard will fail before that.
DeWALT Wall Dogs
If you want an easy but secure way to fix things to plasterboard walls then Wall Dogs from DeWALT might be the answer.
While not the strongest plasterboard fixing ever they are really easy to use, they can just be screwed straight into the plasterboard and can hold a surprising amount of weight.
Find Your Wooden Studs
If you can find the wooden studs in your wall and screw into them rather than the plasterboard then you will be able to hang a lot more weight, and best of all you will only need to use regular screws, no fancy fixings.
You can use a stud finder for this if you want to make it really easy, these can also be used to find pipes and electrical cables in your walls.
If you don’t want to invest in a stud finder, there are still other ways to detect the studs in your wall.
Studs are commonly built on 400mm centres, older houses will be built on 16″ centres which comes to 406.4mm.
This means the centre of each stud is 400mm apart from the next stud, so if you know where one stud is you know where all of the others are.
The only way to find out where your studs are if you don’t know where any of them are is to drill a hole and find out, once you hit a stud you can use this to find out where all the others are.
To not ruin your walls it is advisable to do this in a hidden spot, if you are about to put a shelf up or a big bracket then make sure you drill where the holes will be covered up by the shelf/bracket!
