How did I get through 50 years in this veil of tears without knowledge of the Toggler Snaptoggle® Heavy-Duty 3/16″ Toggle Bolt? In those years of suffering, how many times have I punched a series of holes in a wall in a hopeless attempt to find a stud? And how many times have I unsuccessfully tried to use a conventional metal toggle bolt? Those years of confusion have ended thanks to Eric of Garden Fork TV who alerted me to this miracle of the hardware aisle.
Some background. The dudes that built our house in 1920 determined the stud spacing with a roll of dice after a round of bathtub gin. Good luck trying to find a stud through the thick lath and plaster. Your odds are on par with the bland hacks of Nashville managing to deliver a decent Country tune. But I digress.
Why does one need a Toggler Snaptoggle® Heavy-Duty 3/16″ Toggle Bolt? Let’s say, hypothetically of course, that you’ve made an impulsive trip to Costco to purchase a flat screen TV so large that you have to strap it to the top of the car. Urban homesteady types would never do this as we prefer to spend our evenings spinning wool while reading Cicero to each other, of course. But let’s just say (again, hypothetically), that you want to mount that flat screen TV to the wall so that the cats can’t knock it over. This is where the Toggler Snaptoggle® bolts come in.
To use them you drill a 1/2″ hole and insert the metal toggle thing in the wall. You then slide the plastic cap into the hole and rock the plastic straps back and forth until they snap off. Insert the bolt and you’re done. The Toggler folks claim that the bolt will hold up to 238 pounds in drywall and a whopping 802 pounds should you have a concrete block wall. It’s easier to show the Snaptoggle® experience rather than write about it. Here’s Eric’s handy video:
Snaptoggle® bolts work way better than the more conventional metal toggle bolts I had used previously that look like this:
My hypothetical installation of a hypothetical huge-ass flat screen, thanks to the Snaptoggle® Heavy-Duty 3/16″ Toggle Bolts, went really smoothly (hypothetically). That is until I opened the medicine cabinet I installed in the bathroom 10 years ago, located immediately behind the hypothetical huge-ass flat screen:
At least the medicine cabinet is now more firmly attached to the wall now that it’s counter-weighted by the hypothetical flat screen in the adjoining room!
Update: In Facebook, David Feuer points out that another advantage over the Snaptoggle® is that you can remove the bolt without the metal thingy falling down in the wall. Thanks David!
Wow! I love knowing about stuff like this! Thanks! Hope you are enjoying your, hypothetical, TV!
Now you (hypothetically) have a screen on which to watch 18th century cooking videos and wool spinning videos. Hypothetically.
Yes, exactly. Plus the “Primitive Skills Guy” (hypothetically).
The picture of the firmly attached medicine cabinet it hilarious! I have never used a toggle bolt because I am quite good at finding studs. Well, there was one exception.
I wanted to hang a air fern over the claw foot tub. I knew the ex would object, so as soon as he left for a few days, I set to work. After I drilled six holes, I finally found a stud through the plaster and lathe board. Whew! In order to hide my mistakes and keep plaster from falling on him in the tub, I used Scotch tape over the extra holes. When he returned, he yelled about the fern. It took him two weeks to find the extra holes and tape. He was concerned also because I had no problem before then finding the studs. He spent a long time asking my why I failed to find the stud this time.