Fixing or Hook?
Fixings and hooks are needed to mount items to walls and ceilings. Wall cabinets, brackets, shelving and pictures need to be secured safely with a fixing or hook appropriate for the particular wall type.
Fixings refer to items that fix an item permanently to a wall (e.g. a bracket or shelf), whilst a hook allows the item to be lifted off (e.g. a mirror, hanging light, picture or coat!)
The majority of fixings and hooks supplied by Wall Wizard include the correct screw or bolt, meaning no more searching for that elusive screw, or even worse, ‘making do’ with an incorrect screw or bolt.
Over the last decades, hooks and fixings have progressed enormously, while the purpose – to secure, fix or hang an object from a wall or ceiling, has not.
Hooks, for instance, now come in a variety of forms from adhesive hooks that literally stick to your kitchen cabinets or tiles to even magnetic hooks, both require no nails or screws at all!
At Wall Wizard, we supply a range of hooks suitable for various applications with the actual fixing method built into the design of the hook itself, saving the need to search for the relevant fixing to accompany it.
Hooks and their use
Hooks are a convenient way to hang a range of items, including pictures, mirrors, chandeliers, plants, ceiling lights and even coats! Often hooks are supplied without the fixings needed to secure them to the wall, however, at Wall Wizard we try to supply hooks ready to use, with the fixings element included.
It is important to always bear in mind the strength of the hook or fixing in relation to the item that you are trying to fix or hang and how the hook will bond to the wall. For example, you wouldn’t use an adhesive hook on a painted or plasterboard surface as the strength of the fixing would be reliant essentially on surface paint or a porous, dusty surface. Yet on a non-porous or gloss surface, the same fixing will perform well for light applications, creating a ‘positive’ or ‘true’ bond. Such hooks are particularly useful where people do not wish to drill into a surface (often the case for tiles and cabinets).
When to use a fixing
Fixings typically have an anchor part (often an expanding plug) that is located in the wall and a screw or bolt that is mounted through the item to be fixed (eg. bracket) which is then screwed into the anchor. Fixings come in a range of types and sizes and should be selected based upon wall type, application and the weight of the object that needs to be secured.
When applying a hook or fixing to a wall or ceiling, the strength of the fixing will be dependent on the wall strength, materials or substrate itself.
Fixing into an old rubble and stone wall, crumbling masonry or rotting wooden beams is never going to end well and should be avoided at all costs! Likewise, neither should you rely on mortar joints between bricks and the voids behind plaster boards to hold the weight of your item. Instead, find the strongest and most solid area of your wall or ceiling to successfully hold the weight of the fixture. In masonry this would be a brick, concrete block or substantial stone in suitable condition, and in a plasterboard wall, you would look to fix into the timber uprights or noggins, or the blobs of adhesive ‘glue’ used to stick the sheets of plasterboard to the wall on a ‘Dot and Dab’ wall.
Finally, when drilling into any wall or ceiling it is always important to stop and consider what is hidden within the wall! Pipes and cables are often buried within walls so care needs to be taken to avoid drilling into them!
