# vent covers falling out of wall



## sublime2

Put some small scrap pieces of wood inside the vent. Secure it with screws. Put screws close enough to opening so the vent will conceal them when installed.


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## jeffzap

sublime2 said:


> Put some small scrap pieces of wood inside the vent. Secure it with screws. Put screws close enough to opening so the vent will conceal them when installed.


I'm not sure I follow? The screw holes in the vent cover line up to be outside the vent.


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## Beepster

There are some sort of drywall anchors that when you tighten down the first time the part of the body inside the walls collapses down so that you are able to unscrew and screw back in again. Not sure the name. Go to one of the big box stores or your local hardware store and see what you can find.

B


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## jeffzap

Beepster said:


> There are some sort of drywall anchors that when you tighten down the first time the part of the body inside the walls collapses down so that you are able to unscrew and screw back in again. Not sure the name. Go to one of the big box stores or your local hardware store and see what you can find.
> 
> B


You mean like a winged plastic or hollow wall anchor? I thought about those, except the material inside the drywall where these holes are has mostly crumbled away. There's nothing much left for an anchor to anchor to, and one of the kinds that expands and presses against the back of the wall would likely just crush its way through the paper backing and just make a large hole.

I've thought about setting an anchor in place by hand, then trying to push a bunch of drywall mud or something in there and wait for it to harden, but I don't know if that's a half-assed way to go about it.

Jeff


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## joecaption

Sure the screws they used where just not to short?
They needed to go thorugh the sheetrock and into the sheetmetal in a predrilled hole for the screw, using sheet metal screws.
And your right no form of cheap plastic anchor or trying to "fill it" is going to work.


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## sublime2

jeffzap said:


> I'm not sure I follow? The screw holes in the vent cover line up to be outside the vent.


The screws you use to secure the wood, put them in close to the opening so when you install the cover it hides the screws. The screws for the vent will then screw into the wood.


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## jeffzap

joecaption said:


> Sure the screws they used where just not to short?
> They needed to go thorugh the sheetrock and into the sheetmetal in a predrilled hole for the screw, using sheet metal screws.
> And your right no form of cheap plastic anchor or trying to "fill it" is going to work.


I can't believe I didn't think of this, but you're dead on. The around 1" long screws used weren't long enough. I picked up some 1 3/4" and 2 1/4" sheet metal screws and probed in there and found (what I hope are) holes to grab into. Fixed the 2 vent covers that were falling out of the wall this way.

Thanks!


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