Have just been drilling into a dividing wall in a 1936 terraced house in London, to hang up a cupboard in the bedroom.
What I'm drilling into is almost like soft sand. I guess it must be some kind of breeze block mortar that has deteriorated? The only thoughts I have is to pack some polyfilla around the rawlplug to fill in the hole and get some grip. Is that a good idea? Novice appreciates any advice on what best to do. thanks.
Unlikely to be breeze block in a 1936 property, and breeze block doesn't usually deteriorate with age. You are most likely drilling into the mortar between the bricks. You can't put filler around a wall plug and expect it to stick. The easiest and safest solution is to hang the cupboard in a slightly different lateral or vertical position; wall plugs should be fixed in brick.
How many holes have you drilled, and are they *all* the same? If you've only drilled one or two it's possible that you've just been unlucky and hit a mortar joint. You could try moving your fixing points a couple of inches diagonally and see whether you then get something a bit more solid.
Actually, when you say a 'dividing' wall, do you mean the party wall between two houses or simply an internal wall between two rooms? If the latter, it could be a stud partition covered with lath and plaster. Does the wall sound hollow if you tap it with your knuckle? If it is this sort of wall, you'll need to drill a lot of small test holes to find where the structural timbers are, and then screw into those.
Interesting questions. As Churchill said, the U.S. and the U.K. are "two nations divided by a common language."
So help this American understand what you're talking about, please. What is a breeze block? What is a rawlplug? What is polyfilla?
A building block, typically measuring 18" x 9" - used in bits of walls which don't show - typically for the inner skin of a cavity wall. Original ones made of furnace ash and cement or somesuch. Current ones much lighter in weight, and with good insulating properties. Much faster to build than bricks since each block takes the place of 6 bricks.
Originally a fibre plug, inserted into a drilled hole in brickwork to allow a screw to be screwed in. Rawlplug is/was a trade name
- but is now used generically for any such plug. Modern plugs are made of plastic.
A powder which, when mixed with water, makes a plaster-like substance for filling cracks in walls.
HTH!
Similar to cinder block. A soft grey building block, about 12" x 8", mainly used for interior walls. We also have a similar product called "Thermalite" blocks.
Generally, they are all known as breeze blocks.
I've seen similar blocks in the USA (I'm sad enough to visit DIY stores like "Home Depot" on holiday!!!
A plastic plug you use to fix to a masonry wall. You drill an oversize hole, fit a rawlplug, then screw into the rawlplug which expands to grip the hole. Rawlplug is a trade name for the (at one time) most famous brand. These days there are many makes. You need special types for use in breeze blocks.
Another trade name for a general purpose, plaster based, filler. I think you call it "spackle" ?
Breeze block is concrete building blocks, an alternative to clay bricks
Cinder block.
Dunno.
Spackle.
Respectively.
Its not a bad idea, though sand and cement mortar is better. Often pays to make quite a large hole, paint it with THICK PVA, slap in the mortar and push the plug into that leaving a matchstick sticking out, then when set make good with plaster and paint..then pull the matchstick out and screw whatever into the hole.
Breeze block is a sort of low density brick block made of coal power station slag..sometimes called a cinder block. A rwawlplug is a trade name for originally a fiber plug inserted into masonry to take a wood screw. Now universally plastic.
Polyfilla is a trade name for (iriginally) a cellulose based filler..somewhat like 'spackle' ..its now a tradename for a huge variety of filling products..
Gotcha. We call that a cinder block (even though they're *now* made with concrete), but ours are 16" x 8".
Gotcha. We use the same things here, but I have no idea what they're called.
I guess that's a trade name, too?
Yeah -- thanks!
Poly**** is a the genus name for a proprietary collection of gooey stuff; including -but not limited to;- Polycell - wallpaper paste Polyclens - paint brush cleaner Polyfila - plaster for filling minor cracks. holes in plastered walls PolySmooth - plaster for skimming larger areas --- plus lots of others ... Brits have a tendency to use a 'specific' brand name-item for the generic; thus we 'hoover' the carpet - even using a Dyson.
If you've got crumbly walls, a tub of car body filler from Halfords would be a good investment. Sets in 5 minutes so you can get on with the job.
Happens here, too. The most prominent examples I can think of are:
- Facial tissues (for blowing one's nose, or wiping one's eyeglasses). Everyone here calls them Kleenex. Nobody ever asks for a "facial tissue".
- Photocopiers. Most commonly referred to as Xerox machines, even if made by Canon, Rico, etc.
- Carbonated cola beverage. Usually called a Coke. Even if it's a Pepsi.
The last of these is regional: in some parts of the USA they are all "coke," in others all "soda," and in yet others all "pop."
Perce
I remember the first time we went to a restaurant after moving from Illinois to Indiana. My brother, nine years old at the time, wanted -- better describe this very specifically here -- an orange-flavored carbonated soft drink. In Illinois, that is (or was 33 years ago, at any rate) called "orange soda". So that's what he ordered.
Boy, was he surprised when his "orange soda" arrived in a huge glass with two large dollops of vanilla ice cream floating in it.
I was 19, sitting around the dinner table in Tucson, with my aunt's neighbours... "to see the nephew from England".
We were talking about taking a hike on the Sunday, and one of them remarked how she had difficulty in waking up on the weekend. So I leant over and casually said "shall I come over an knock you up then?".
Sudden silence.
I guess you learned pretty quickly that that phrase has a *very* different meaning here.
When sitting down to dinner, we habitually put "napkins" in our laps to protect our clothing from spills, and to provide something to wipe our hands on. As I understand it, you use "serviettes" for that purpose, and "napkins" for something altogether different.
Actually cinder blocks and concrete blocks were and still are made from two different materials. Cinder blocks used "clinkers" from coal fired locomotives and industrial steam boilers, mixed with portland cement and sand to form a lightweight version of concrete. Lightweight blocks are still manufacturered for internal firewalls and such, using steel mill slag and other lightweight agegates. They were never intended for outdoor use or inground use. Concrete blocks used the standard sand, gravel and portland cement for high strength and weather resistance.
Used to be called Rawlplug in North America when they were made of a fiberous material. My experience has shown that plastic plugs don't hold much at all, they are just too slippery to form a solid anchor. If you have solid timbers in the wall use longer screws. If you have masonry building units in the wall get some Tapcon screws or the equivelent in a length that will solidly hold in the masonry.
Pollyfilla, still made in North America, they make floor leveling, wall patching, spackles and other plaster type supplies. My local big box store stocks them.
While working in the US, I applied for a driving license and took the test. The written (computerised multiple choice) was easy but the practical nearly got off to a bad start when the tester asked me to pull onto the pavement. I quickly realised that he meant the paved highway aka road and not the sidewalk aka pavement!
As for my smoking colleague who, early on, walked out of a lab saying that he really needed to have a fag...
Guy
-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Guy Dawson I.T. Manager Crossflight Ltd snipped-for-privacy@crossflight.co.uk
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