Vent: People keep using drywall screws for hanging heavy shelves and it drives me crazy

After pulling down a bookshelf my neighbor put up with drywall screws last week I had to explain to him that those screws are meant for holding drywall to studs not supporting 50 pounds of books, has anyone else dealt with explaining this to a friend?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_smith591d ago

Wait, so you're telling me drywall screws are actually meant to hold up drywall? I swear I used to think they were the all-purpose screw for everything because they're so cheap and easy to find. I put up a bunch of shelves in my garage with them and I'm honestly lucky they didn't come crashing down on my lawnmower. Now I have to go check all my other shelves and probably buy actual construction screws that don't snap like toothpicks under weight. This is definitely one of those things that makes you feel REAL dumb after you learn it.

piper_flores691d ago

Got a buddy who used drywall screws to hang a heavy mirror in his bathroom. It came crashing down one morning while he was brushing his teeth, scared the crap out of him. He blamed the screw heads snapping off, but really the problem was using the wrong fastener for the job. Now he jokes that his bathroom has a "mirror graveyard" in the corner.

the_john1d agoTop Commenter

Read somewhere that drywall screws are actually brittle, designed to snap clean when driven flush.