PR-05Choose the right fixing for your wallOn lath and plaster, fix into the timber studs behind the laths using a 50-63mm wood screw driven into the centre of each stud - avoid screwing into bare lath between studs, as it's thin and crumbles. If a section has been patched with plasterboard on timber studs, a 40mm wood screw into the stud centre works the same way. If you find plasterboard on metal studs, never use a plain wall plug or wood screw - they strip straight through 0.5mm steel - use a self-drilling metal-stud fixing instead, and remember a metal stud won't hold anything heavy or anything that pulls away from the wall, so add a timber noggin for heavier fittings. On dot-and-dab plasterboard, use a fixing long enough to pass through the board and the air gap into the masonry behind, typically 60-75mm; on solid brick or block, drill with a 6mm masonry bit, insert a wall plug, and drive a 40mm screw.