My towel rack, which was secure when it was installed, is now falling off the wall. What happened?
Bertha in Atlanta
A – Life happened.
Hanging towels happened. Grabbing towels happened. Wear and tear happened.
Over time even the best installed drywall anchors won’t hold up to the daily jiggling of use and abuse. They will waller out a bigger hole in the wall and lose their effectiveness.
(This is the proper use of the word ‘waller’)
But fear not, all is not lost. In fact, there is a cure that will allow you replace your rack even using the same holes in the wall.
The fix? Toggle bolts.
A toggle bolt looks like a screw on one end but has a spring-loaded wing on the other end.
Simply run the screw through the rack (or whatever you are re-attaching to the wall), attach the wing, and shove the wing through the hole. Once the wing clears the wall it will open up and you can screw the bolt into place.
Better than new!
Two things to remember. One - attach the wing piece to the very end of the bolt so that when you push the entire piece through the wall the wing will have enough room to deploy.
Two – you will need to have some pressure back towards the wall to get the screw started, or else you will just be spinning the entire piece of hardware in the hole.
Toggle bolt are easy and available at all big box and hardware stores.