Lesson 10
Fixing into Plasterboard
Find a stud or choose a cavity fixing, and deal with the dot-and-dab gap, so a fixing in board holds.
Strong across, weak at a point
Plasterboard is a sheet of gypsum in a paper skin. Spread a load across its face and it's surprisingly strong; concentrate it at the rim of one small hole and it crumbles. Think of a sheet of thick card: press on it with your palm and it holds, press with a pencil point and the point goes straight through.
So every good plasterboard fixing does one of two things. It skips the board and goes into a stud behind it, or it spreads the load across a patch of the board's back face.