When designing art that is going to be hanging on your walls whether it’s surfboards or pictures of surfers you need to understand the foundation of what you will be installing into to create a safe environment for you display. These are some standard types of interior wall construction and simple suggestions on what hardware to use.
Wood Frame with drywall.
Typical dyrwall is 5/8″ thick and attached to 2″ by 4″ wood studs. Standard construction techniques will find the wall studs at every 16″ on center. You can start with a modern day stud finder or use the old fashioned method of taking a penny nail and nailing it into the walls until you find the stud and measure from there. A simpler technique, if you don’t want to put holes in your walls, is to start by locating the electrical outlet on the wall as they are usually attached to a stud. You can work your way out from there to determine where you want to hang your board.
I always recommend attaching to the wood stud via wood screws or lag bolts and those come in different sizes depending on the job and weight load at hand. You have to include the weight of the surf rack or snowboard rack when figuring out your weight loads.
If you decide that the display location of your surfboard is not near any studs and you want to use some of the drywall anchors on the market, then you have to find the right anchor for the right job. You have to be very careful with the drywall anchors that are available. They’re weight limit capacities are only 1/4 of the weight that’s published on the box and drywall can become brittle over time and will breakdowns if it gets wet. It is a good idea to investigate the age of your home to determine the walls integrity. There are several brands of drywall anchors; Toggler snaptoggle bolts are very strong and come in different sizes and claim some amazing weigh limits. But you have to remember it’s not just about the bolt because if the drywall has been compromised in anyway then the drywall itself will be the failing part. There are plastic ones and metal ones from other companies as well.
Lathe and Plaster Construction…
Older construction format that stopped in the late 1950’s. Builders used thinner studs that had wooden slats and sometime “chicken wire” attached to the studs so that a mortar could be spread across the form to give you a solid looking textured wall …(for more detail click here). These are the hardest walls to attach anything to because the mortar is probably so old you can put your finger thru it and the slats or metal mesh aren’t strong enough to hold any real weight. If you can find the stud then you are fairly safe with smaller snowboards and skateboards. The studs are typically thinner and are placed with different spacing depending on the lathe or metal mesh used. You can use wing nuts, but I personally don’t trust this type of wall because of it’s age. It’s strong enough to hold the wall up but I wouldn’t put my favorite Classic long board on it with out making sure it can hold the weigh.
Brick or Cinder block Construction….
If you want to install into these type of walls you will usually need an impact drill and they make special anchors for cinder block and brick walls that usually have some form of a casing that you have to put into the hole that you drill and then a bolt that screws in or fills in the void sticks via friction. Check out this website for more detailed information on all of the different types of wall anchors
As always if you have any questions just drop us an email.