Frequently Asked Questions

They are available at all Lowe's stores, at many tool and fastener distributors and retail hardware stores, and online also at websites such as lowes.com, anchorco.com, amazon.com, etc. If you are a distributor wishing to add our anchors to your product line, or if you are located outside the USA, please fill out and submit the form on our Contact Us page.

Ultimate holding values for the various sizes of each anchor in different wall & ceiling base materials are shown on each anchor's web page and are also listed in the Technical Flyer for each anchor, which is available for download:

• SnapSkru® self-drilling drywall anchor
• SNAPTOGGLE® heavy-duty toggle bolt
• ALLIGATOR® all-purpose anchor
• TOGGLER® hollow-wall anchor

IMPORTANT — Please note that we list the ultimate load that each anchor sustained in independent laboratory tests. Industry safety standards recommend 1/4 of that ultimate load as a reasonably safe working load for each installed anchor. We cannot guarantee this, because we don't know the condition of your wall or ceiling or exactly how you are anchoring the load. Age, capacity, and condition of the base material must be considered.

In addition, this ultimate holding value is for objects held closely to the wall. Moving objects away from the wall (e.g., the far end of a shelf or using a TV mount that swings away from the wall) significantly increases the effective weight of that object, greatly reducing the allowable load of that anchor.

Always follow the manufacturer's installation guidelines for the item being installed.

No. No SDS sheets are required for any of the TOGGLER High-Performance Anchors.

All of the TOGGLER anchors will work in block walls except for the SnapSkru self-drilling drywall anchor, which works only in 3/8"-5/8" drywall. The ALLIGATOR all-purpose anchor holds securely both in the solid portion of the block, expanding to fill the drilled hole, and if it hits the cavity, where the screw opens the jaws of the anchor and locks into their teeth to provide holding that is highly resistant to vibration. So, you can drill into block wall without know where the cavities are located, and the anchor will work either way. It will, however, hold more load when installed in solid wall. See its technical bulletin.

The SNAPTOGGLE heavy-duty toggle bolt holds heavy weight in the open cavities of block walls, if there is 2" of clearance in the cavity.

The original TOGGLER plastic toggle anchor holds like a solid-wall anchor in the solid sections of the block and as a wedge anchor when it hits a cavity.

Yes, here’s how to remove wall anchors:

To remove the SnapSkru self-drilling drywall anchor: use a #2 Phillips screwdriver to remove the screw. Then place the screwdriver in the anchor and turn it counterclockwise. The legs of the anchor will collapse down to a straight line, and the anchor can be gently rotated out of the wall leaving only its original small hole. This is unlike ordinary self-drilling drywall anchors, which tend to remove a chunk of drywall with them, damaging the wall, when you try to remove them the same way.

To remove the TOGGLER plastic toggle anchor or the ALLIGATOR all-purpose anchor from drywall, tile over drywall, or plaster: remove the screw, insert a razor blade or thin sharp knife between the plastic flange of the anchor and the wall surface, and cut down through the plastic neck of the anchor. Push the now flangeless anchor slightly into the hole in the wall and fill it with spackling or wall joint compound. Allow the area to dry, then sand lightly. The same process can be used with the SNAPTOGGLE heavy-duty toggle bolt, but you may need to cover its hole with a bridging material for strength before patching compound can be applied.

After you remove the screw, you can drill out any of our all-plastic anchors from solid walls (brick, concrete, masonry, etc.).

They are available at many tool and fastener distributors and online at websites such as anchorco.com, amazon.com, etc. If you are a distributor wishing to add our anchors to your product line, or if you are located outside the USA, please fill out and submit the form on our Contact Us page.

Ultimate holding values for the various sizes of each anchor in different wall & ceiling base materials are shown on each anchor's web page and are also listed in the Technical Flyer for each anchor, which is available under "Downloads."

IMPORTANT — Please note that we list the ultimate load that each anchor sustained in independent laboratory tests. Industry safety standards recommend 1/4 of that ultimate load as a reasonably safe working load for each installed anchor. We cannot guarantee this, because we don't know the condition of your wall or ceiling or exactly how you are anchoring the load. Age, capacity, and condition of the base material must be considered.

In addition, this ultimate holding value is for objects held closely to the wall. Moving objects away from the wall (e.g., the far end of a shelf or using a TV mount that swings away from the wall) significantly increases the effective weight of that object, greatly reducing the allowable load of that anchor.

Always follow the manufacturer's installation guidelines for the item being installed.

Yes, they are available in PDF format at PAGE.

Generally speaking, anchor spacing is the distance required between the centerline of two installed anchors to achieve maximum performance of the anchors. To completely understand anchor this you must recognize that most mechanical style anchors are held in with friction. The reaction of tensile forces creates a spall cone when the friction overcomes the concrete's ability to resist during failure. Correct spacing ensures that the cones do not interact and thus reduce the performance between anchors. Recommended spacing is listed in the Technical Flyer for each applicable anchor, which is available under "Downloads."

Edge distance is the distance from an edge to the centerline of an installed anchor. Remember that cracks and control expansion joints count as edges. As is the case with Spacing, specific edge distances are required to achieve maximum performance of the anchors. Reduced edge distances will result in lower anchor performance and can induce concrete failure when the proximity of the installed anchor is too close to the free edge. Recommended edge distances are listed in the Technical Flyer for each applicable anchor, which is available under "Downloads."

A.N.S.I. stands for American National Standards Institute. This organization exists to set national standards so that you can be assured of consistent dimensional reliability from manufacturer to manufacturer. Most anchors are tested using bits made to these standards and you as an end user will want to stay within the standards' dimensional limits to insure that you will achieve the performance you are expecting from your anchor. Nearly all anchor manufacturers recommend the use of A.N.S.I. B212.15 Standard for carbide tipped drill bits. Metric drill bits generally do not fall within the dimensions set in A.N.S.I. B212.15 for carbide drill bits.

There are many concrete applications where it is perfectly fine to use either a sleeve or a wedge anchor. This decision should be based on performance requirements and base material. But, typically, you would not use a wedge anchor in hollow block. The sleeve anchor comes in a variety of heads besides the hex head. You can get sleeves with acorn nut, flat, round and rod coupling head styles to meet many applications and decorative needs.

Wedge anchors are not recommended for use in hollow block walls. Some manufacturers do allow their use in grout filled walls and provide greatly reduced performance data for such uses. Generally, the wedge anchor is not recommended for use in hollow block walls.

Wej-It Ankr-TITE anchors can be removed using one of two methods. Core drill around the anchor and remove the core/anchor. Use hydraulic equipment to pull the anchor out of the hole. However, for the anchor to be removed by this method, there will probably be surface spalling and damage to the inside circumference of the base material hole. Also, there is a possibility that the anchor will break, leaving a portion of the body in the hole. A wedge anchor can also be cut flush to the surface. If the original hole was drilled in the base material deep enough, a wedge anchor can be driven down into the hole, but the anchor is rendered useless at that point. Finally, if the hole was drilled through the base material during the initial installation, a wedge can be driven down through the material.