The great shelf collapse of 2023 at Home Depot changed my mind about drywall anchors

I was at the Home Depot in Arlington picking up some heavy shelving brackets for my garage. One of the store employees stocking shelves told me they had a whole display collapse because they used those little plastic expansion anchors instead of toggle bolts. I had just bought a pack of those plastic ones myself. I put them back and grabbed toggle bolts instead, saved my tools from ending up on the concrete floor like that display. Anyone else had those cheap anchors fail on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan_wells672d ago

Hold up were those plastic anchors actually the ones that failed or was it just that somebody used the wrong size for the weight of the shelves? I bet half the time people just grab whatever pack is closest and dont check the weight rating, then blame the anchor when it snaps lmao.

nathan_bailey2d ago

Gonna have to push back a little on that @rowan_wells67. I mean yeah, sure, some people definitely grab the wrong anchors without checking. But those little plastic ones are rated for like 20-30 pounds tops even in perfect drywall. A full shelf of paint cans or hardware is way heavier than that. The real issue is they're just not meant for heavy stuff like shelving brackets in my opinion. Toggle bolts spread the load way better and actually grip the drywall instead of just expanding a tiny bit.