Can you use this plug & screw in plasterboard?

[Homervanderjazz]

Not much of a DIY person tbh but trying to learn. I have bought a carbon monoxide alarm and want to put it up on the wall in the house. It is a falsewall in a relatively new build house made of plasterboard.

Previously one of my mates told me the plug in the picture below isn't suitable for a plasterboard wall and I should use a screw plug. However, I can't seem to find a screw plug which looks like it would fit such a small screw.

What's your thoughts, would these plugs in fact be ok?.

 

[Belboz]

Any chance you could locate one of the studs behind the plasterboard? How long are the screws?

 

[alan333]

No those plugs aren't any good for plasterboard, but they'll probably hold a smoke alarm. The screw type ones are much better, but as you say, the screw hole is fairly big. You can jam a matchstick or similar in the hole tho, thus enabling it to take your small screw.

 

[JBR]

I tried using brown rawlplugs (bigger than yours) to attach a toilet roll holder to a plasterboard wall in our bathroom. It was OK for a short while, but then worked loose.
I ended up drilling through to the breezeblock wall behind and using rawlplugs in that.
No problem since.

 

[^woody^]

I often use normal wall plugs like that. It all depends on the weight of what is to be hung, and if it's just a downward load or the load is trying to pull the plug outwards too.

Those plugs will be fine for your alarm. Just make sure the hole you drill is slightly smaller than the plug, so that it's a snug fit.

 

[JBR]

Yes, I have a smoke alarm fixed to a plasterboard ceiling using yellow rawlplugs.

 

[Homervanderjazz]

Any chance you could locate one of the studs behind the plasterboard? How long are the screws?

Trying to locate the stud behind the plasterboard is beyond my current capabilities tbh. The screws are tiny, can measure tonight.

 

[Homervanderjazz]

If the plugs in the picture are useless would I not be ok to just use the screws without them? The alarm doesn't weigh much tbh and it saves having to drill holes for plugs which may do very little

 

[mattylad]

Even poundland stocks fixings for plasterboard.