There are many different ways to secure fixtures to a drywall-covered wall. Most of the ones we’ve seen involve anchors or long screws that go straight through drywall and into a supporting wood stud. And – as mentioned in comments section – you could always use lag bolts as well.
Veritas’ Drywall Nuts are a little different. Drywall Nuts are special stainless steel inserts that provide a very secure means by which to support heavier fixtures to a drywall-covered wall. To use them, you drill a pilot hole into the drywall, and drive the nut directly into a wood stud.
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If you install a Drywall Nut properly, it won’t crush the drywall when a load is applied. It also sits proud of the drywall surface a little bit to help ensure that the nut carries the load and not the drywall.
Drywall Nuts are threaded to accept 1/4-20 or 5/16-18 machine screws. There’s a handy chart on the Lee Valley product page that shows the dimensions of the 5 different nut sizes.
The load capacity is as you would expect for beefy fasteners of this size – 350 lbs tension and 450 or 700 lbs shear, depending on 1/4″ or 5/16″ thread size. Lee Valley clarifies the shear and tension ratings by saying:
The shear load capacity refers to a weight hanging close to the wall, such as a large painting or other heavy, flat object. Tension load capacity refers to the amount of force required to pull a drywall nut out of a wall, whether from a direct pull or leverage from a shelf or other projecting object.
In other words, if you’re mounting anything where the main force component is downward along the wall, these insert nuts can support a maximum of 450 or 700 lbs each. It’s of course not going to be very practical to load them up that much. If these are the failure ratings, you’ll want to maintain a 4-to-1 safety ratio and not exceed 1/4 of the maximum load rating. 350 lbs is the pullout rating. Certain (most) fixtures will apply both tension and shear loads on the nuts.
These seem like a very effective and tidy way to mount all kinds of things to drywall-covered studs.
Price: $4.70 for 1, $4.00 each for 5 or more
Buy Now(via Lee Valley)
John says
Why not just use a lag or wood screw for the stud mount? My issue is when there is no stud and must depend on the drywall to hold a heavy load
Stuart says
What I hope is that Lee Valley offers some sort of insert so that you can use these with other fastener sizes, such as #8 and #10 machine screws. That would increase versatility by quite a bit.
I don’t think these are necessarily better than simple lags or wood screws, at least not in a general sense. But they’re different, and can be better suited if the application calls for machine screws instead of wood screws.
Szymon says
Exactly what I was thinking
fred says
I might be just me – but I thought that they were a bit pricey for what they do. I tried to think of an application where I might want to repeatedly mount and demount something entirely (not just lifting a painting or a mirror off its hooks) from a wall – an application where these would shine. After some thought – I couldn’t come up with this sort of application. I do like the notion that they have thought to innovate on this quite old and common task.
For really heavy things – I much prefer using a French Cleat
Michael Quinlan says
Last fall I built a marching band prop out of wood. It required weekly assembly/disassembly. For the fasteners involved in the weekly ritual, I used fasteners with machine threads in combination with T-nuts. That said, I don’t (yet) see any advantage of these new fasteners when compared to traditional screws or lag screws either.
Jimmie says
Kind of resembles a threaded rod hanger/anchor.
John says
Interesting product that I’m not sure I would ever have a use for but still nice to hear about new products. Just curious why the 1/4 and 5/16 sizes have the same load capacities – it seems like there should be at least some difference unless they only tested and certified the smaller size and applied that rating to all pieces.
Benjamen says
This might be a nice way to mount an access panel for plumbing or such. Rather then the painted piece of plywood held in place with wood screws I’ve seen in many houses.
John says
Stuart,
You wrote:
“In other words, if you’re mounting shelving brackets, these insert nuts can support a maximum of 450 or 700 lbs each.”
Isn’t the load on the shelves a tension load (350 lbs.), not the higher-rated shear load (for a flat object closer to the wall) of 450-700 lbs?
If I’m wrong, thanks for explaining to me!
fred says
One might do a free body diagram to look at the forces that would be generated. The Bracket configuration (e.g. is it just an “L” or does it have a 45 degree brace) will have some impact. I would think that the bottom connection will have net force components applied by the shelf load that will be downward along the wall and another that will be into the wall. The top connection might have net forces outward from the wall and downward along the wall. It’s been about 50 years since I studied this subject – so I may be wrong
Stuart says
It really depends on the design. For say a floating shelf design, horizontal forces – tension above the fastener center and compression below – might cancel out, leading to an almost purely vertical force component. But I get your point and will be a little clearer with that statement.
Drew says
Im having a hard time seeing the benefit of using these fasteners over toggles or other cheaper anchors. For the time it takes to install and the price I would not guess these would sell very well.. All of the contractors I’ve worked for wouldn’t be to happy to see me hanging panels or other devices with these.
SteveR says
These will work best if you center the anchors in the studs. That will require the use of a stud sensor which can help you locate that sweet spot before you drive them home. Installed correctly, there should be an obvious advantage over standard wall anchors that rely on being driven into wallboard only as regards strength. They would provide a stronger base, especially when you’re hanging heavier objects like mirrors or flat-screen TVs. They are a bit pricey, though, and won’t be used much except in high-end construction or custom installations.
Older construction is probably all wood studs, but newer construction (or remodels) may employ steel 2x4s. I’m guessing those will have different strength and loading characteristics compared to wood studs. It may not be possible to use these anchors with steel studs, as there’s no “meat” to drive them into as you have with wood studs. Just something to factor in before you start.
adabhael says
Ah, thank you! I’ve been sitting scratching my head at what possible application calls for a $4 wall anchor with machine threads (even if it is cool). I think flat-screen TV is a good candidate (not that I would necessary do it that way) and the loads seem in line with that application.
Stuart says
I did specify wood studs for a reason. *wink*
These DEFINITELY shouldn’t be used with metal studs, as there’s not much to grab on to.
fred says
Steel stud is indeed finding its way more and more into mostly commercial construction. As pointed out it is not 100% equivalent to traditional wood framing – and in the case of these fasteners – not really compatible. I suppose if you needed to be able to attach a wall hanging, access panel etc. to steel stud – wanting to use machine screws or bolts – you could pre-drill the steel and place a pop-nut or Riv-Nut.
Joe says
I don’t understand this product. All of my 42-55″ inch LCD TV’s on the wall need brackets to hang. The machine threaded bolts only go in the TV body, the coarse ones go in the center of the wood.
I just can’t grasp where these would come useful for.
But it's me! says
I agree, after all big screen TVs are not that heavy, at least the 42-inche models I have mounted in our home. The brackets I used (monoprice for other tightwads out there!) included lag bolts for the studs, although I did get some Spax lags to replace them. One advantage I could see for these with TV mounts is to remove any denting of the wallboard from the mount itself, maybe useful for renters.
Michael says
Just looks like a fancy sammy to me. Those already come in 1/4-20, 3/8-16, and 1/2-13 sizes. And don’t cost as much.
Kevin says
Question for Michael.
What’s a “fancy sammy”.
Tim says
They were cool until I saw the price. At first glance I thought it was $4.70 for a box, then my brain caught up and understood what I read. $30 to hang one shelf in the garage? Thanks, but no thanks…
Derek Cooper says
I’ve spent the last hour searching the web for exactly this item. I was looking for something like concrete anchors that can be installed in wood studs. Drywall wedge anchors are not strong enough to hold heavy weights (in my case multiple tower computers). I may use these in my business so that I can easily move and replace shelving, but the unit price does give me pause. I presume the cost is due to small scale production.
One environment where I think these could be used is in residential apartments. Landlords could provide some options for hanging things without damaging the walls. You really don’t want tenants installing lag bolts in drywall . A one time $20 expense is insignificant if you’re mounting a television. If they have the maintenance crew install the TV they can pass the cost on to the tenant.
Peter II says
Derek’s comment is exactly what I would use these for. I had my contractor permanently install a TV mount in the living and bedroom for this very reason. However, If I were to use these, the mounts could be removed as necessary.