Wall fixings guide: which anchor holds in which London wall

Almost every failed fixing in London is the right screw in the wrong wall. A plasterboard plug in dot-and-dab holds nothing but a sheet of board with a void behind it.

This guide matches the five wall types you meet across London housing to the fixing that actually carries the load.

Knock first. A hollow ring with a soft, dusty drill feel is lath and plaster, typical of Victorian and Edwardian stock. A hollow ring with a crisp board face and a void an inch deep is dot-and-dab, standard in new build and refurbished flats.

A dull, solid note with red dust is solid brick. Grey dust and a drill that barely moves is concrete, common in post-war estate blocks.

Lath and plaster carries very little on the plaster itself: the load must reach the timber stud behind it, or be spread with a proper toggle. Dot-and-dab needs a long fixing into the masonry behind the void, not a plasterboard plug in the board.

Solid brick and concrete will take heavy loads happily, provided the hole is drilled clean and the plug matches the bit. Concrete needs an SDS drill and a percussion anchor.

A wall-mounted TV puts a lever load on the fixings, pulling the top ones outward. On dot-and-dab that lever multiplies against a 10mm board with air behind it, so short plugs shear the board face over a few months.

The fix is boring and reliable: long fixings through the void into the masonry, torqued properly, with the bracket levelled against the board rather than the skirting.