Reference
Walls and hardware
One row per wall and hardware combination, with the rating the maker publishes, the conditions that rating assumes, and where the figure comes from. Filter it to the wall you have.
Every figure in the ultimate column is the maker's own published test value, taken from its technical sheets rather than its product pages. The working column is that figure divided by four, because every one of these makers states that industry practice is a quarter of the ultimate test load. Nothing in this table is added to anything else in it.
| Wall and hardware | Ultimate, as published | Working, at a quarter | Conditions the figure assumes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal toggle bolt, 3/16 inch, in 1/2 inch drywall | 238 lb tensile | about 60 lb | 1/2 inch drill; failure recorded as breakage of the drywall portion; minimum clearance behind the wall 1-7/8 inches; load held close to the wall |
| Metal toggle bolt, 3/16 inch, in 5/8 inch drywall | 356 lb tensile | about 89 lb | As above, with thicker board |
| Metal toggle bolt, 3/16 inch, 1/2 inch drywall with a 25 gauge steel stud behind | 412 lb tensile | about 103 lb | A different test condition, not a bonus for the same installation |
| Metal toggle bolt, 3/16 inch, in concrete block | 802 lb tensile | about 200 lb | Concrete block; the same maker's product page quotes this figure with no safety factor mentioned |
| Metal toggle bolt, 1/4 inch, in 1/2 inch drywall | 265 lb tensile | about 66 lb | 1/2 inch drill |
| Self-drilling drywall anchor, regular, in 9.5 mm drywall | 25 kg (about 55 lb) tensile | about 6 kg (14 lb) | Tested with a 4.0 by 40 mm screw; picture frames and mirrors are named applications |
| Self-drilling drywall anchor, regular, in 12.5 mm drywall | 36 kg (about 79 lb) tensile | about 9 kg (20 lb) | Same screw; clearance behind the wall 29 mm |
| Self-drilling drywall anchor, regular, in 15 mm drywall | 61 kg (about 134 lb) tensile | about 15 kg (34 lb) | Same screw; maximum drywall thickness 16 mm |
| Self-drilling drywall anchor, mini, in 12.5 mm drywall | 29 kg (about 64 lb) tensile | about 7 kg (16 lb) | Tested with a 3.5 by 30 mm screw; clearance 16 mm |
| Plastic toggle anchor (TB), in 12.5 mm drywall | 65 kg (about 143 lb) tensile | about 16 kg (36 lb) | 8 mm hole, 4.0 mm screw; needs 19 mm of clearance behind the wall to open |
| Plastic toggle anchor (TB), in 9.5 mm drywall | 44 kg (about 97 lb) tensile | about 11 kg (24 lb) | As above |
| Plastic toggle anchor (TC), in 15 mm drywall | 72 kg (about 159 lb) tensile | about 18 kg (40 lb) | Grip range 15 to 19 mm |
| Solid-wall anchor, 1/4 inch size, in 1/2 inch drywall | 69 lb tensile | about 17 lb | Published in a 2007 catalogue revision; intended base materials include masonry, tile, plaster and drywall |
| Solid-wall anchor, 1/4 inch size, in 4000 psi concrete | 2,633 lb tensile | about 658 lb | The anchor is not the limit at that point; the fixing and the thing hanging are |
| Masonry screw, 3/16 inch at 1 inch embedment, 4000 psi concrete | 650 lb tensile | about 163 lb | 5/32 inch bit; full capacity needs 1-7/8 inch edge distance and 3 inch spacing, with published reduction factors below that |
| Masonry screw, 3/16 inch at 1-3/4 inch embedment, 4000 psi concrete | 1,460 lb tensile | about 365 lb | Deeper embedment, same bit |
| Masonry screw, 1/4 inch at 1 inch embedment, 4000 psi concrete | 800 lb tensile | about 200 lb | 3/16 inch bit; full-capacity edge distance 2-1/2 inches, spacing 4 inches |
| Masonry screw, 3/16 inch at 1 inch, medium weight hollow block | 340 lb tensile | about 85 lb | Lightweight block is published at 220 lb |
| Lag bolt into a stud (museum screen practice) | No consumer rating published | Not applicable | A federal museum leaflet's practice for a storage screen: 1/4 inch lag bolts with washers through 1/4 inch clearance holes about 18 inches apart, into 1/8 inch pilot holes in studs commonly spaced 16 to 24 inches on center |
| Plaster and lath | No published rating found for any consumer anchor in plaster and lath specifically | Not applicable | Three-coat plaster is a scratch and brown coat at about 3/8 inch each with a 1/8 inch finish coat, over wood, metal or gypsum lath. Drywall ratings do not transfer. Find a stud |
| D-rings, screw eyes, strap hangers | No tested rating found. Figures exist only on retail listings, disagree with each other for apparently the same part, and state no test basis | Not calculable | One maker's answer on a retail listing says the ratings assume the hanger is nailed into a stud, are for comparative purposes only, and are not cumulative |
| Strap hanger (one maker's published figure) | 150 lb per hanger; 200 lb per hanger with a molly bolt | Not stated by the maker | No test conditions published; the same maker states 300 lb with two hangers, which is the claim this manual does not act on |
| Picture wire | No rated standard found. Circulating gauge tables are supplier charts that disagree | Not calculable | One trade supplier states only that the wire's tensile strength should be at least double the picture's weight. A wire sold as a "10 kg" wire is named by maximum picture weight, not breaking strength |
| Museum-practice hangers (one practitioner guide) | Adjustable J-hook 50 lb per hook; one proprietary hanger 10 to 75 lb; another 22 to 100 lb | Not stated | From a practitioner guide prepared with a museum packing and handling network, which also gives the margin rule: hardware should support 25 to 50 percent more than the artwork's maximum weight |
| Rail system, one maker's tracks | 20 lb/ft (30 kg/m) for most rails; 50 lb/ft (74 kg/m) for its heaviest wall track | Not stated | No wall-fastener condition published with the table |
| Rail system, another maker's rail | 45 kg per metre | Not stated | Wall mounted, with three rail clips and three screws per linear metre |
| Rail system cords and hooks | Perlon cord with a light hook 4 kg; perlon with the heavier hook 15 kg; coated steel cable 10 kg; steel cable 20 kg. Another maker: stainless cable 45 lb, nylon cord 15 lb, hooks from 12 to 110 lb | Not stated | Published per hook-and-cord combination. The cord and hook, not the rail, are usually what limits a rail system |
| Picture rail hook on a traditional rail | 20 kg maximum per hook and cable | Not stated | The maker's own footnotes: the rails must be fastened securely into wall studs, and its statement that weights can be doubled with two hangers assumes the load is evenly distributed on both hooks at all times |
| Adhesive hooks and strips | No maker figure could be reached. Every path to the maker's own weight-limit page returned an error during this research | Not calculable from any source we can cite | Read the limit printed on the package you buy, and follow the maker's own surface list. A museum educator's slides describe adhesive hooks as a good option when you cannot put holes in the wall and otherwise not to use them |
| Picture nail into a stud | No consumer rating published | Not applicable | The no-drill option with real holding. Most leases permit it, and it puts the load into framing rather than into board |
How to read this table
- Ultimate is not working. The maker publishes the load the anchor sustained in a laboratory test and then tells you to use a quarter of it. The quarter is the number to design to.
- Conditions travel with the number. Board thickness, hole size, screw size, cavity depth and the load being held close to the wall are all part of the rating. Copy them into the hardware sheet along with the figure.
- The table never adds two fixings together. The makers disagree about whether that is allowed, and no engineering or standards source in this research settles it. If one fixing does not cover the weight, use a bigger one or a stud.
- The frame side has no test data. That is the honest finding, and it is why this manual treats D-rings and wire as a matter of practice rather than of rating.
- A rating is about a product, not about your wall. The maker says the base material's age, capacity and condition must be considered, and it cannot know any of them.
Before you drill
Find out what is behind the wall. Cable and pipe run inside walls and a stud finder is a guide, not proof. This manual prints no code setback figure, because the only free sources for one were trade forums that disagreed on how it is measured. Walls and trim in a home built before 1978 may hold lead paint, and older plaster or textured surfaces may hold asbestos; a federal agency names drilling among the activities that release asbestos fibers and says to leave undamaged material alone.
Limits
These are makers' published figures for their own products, read on 2026-11-03, with the working column calculated at the quarter the makers themselves state. They are not ratings for your wall, they are not advice about a particular installation, and they are not a substitute for the instructions in the packet. Where a cell says no figure was found, that is the finding, and the honest response is to choose a product whose maker has tested it in your wall.