Sometime in October 2018 we have received reports of a couple of wall packs detaching from the wall behind one of the stores we worked on. Luckily, no one was hurt, and no property was damaged. Upon further investigation it was discovered that an improperly sized screw & insert was included in the box by the manufacturer, and subsequently used by the installer without scrutiny.
While there was no damage or injury, this type of incident has a lot of hidden costs. We are having to inspect and re-mount wall packs from the same manufacturer and the same crew on other job sites as well. This type of errors can also cause reduced confidence from our customers.
It is important to understand the proper mounting methods for the fixture as well as the wall it is attached to and use appropriate anchors when mounting fixtures.
Quick reference on which fastening methods to use for each type of wall below:
- Metal wall
- Self-tapper (thick metal / stud only)
- Toggle bolt
- Concrete wall
- Tap-con™*
- Threaded metal insert
- Red-Head™
- Wood wall
- Wood screw
- Lag bolt
- Toggle bolt
- Butterfly
- Thick stucco
- Tap-con™*
- Toggle bolt
- Butterfly
- Thin stucco / efis
- Toggle bolt
- Plywood backed stucco / efis
- Lag bolt (drill trough stucco only!)
- Toggle bolt
- Butterfly
*Make sure to use the appropriate tap-con! Concrete and stucco tap-cons are not the same!
