Wall fixings advice sought

[Dave Newt]

Hi,

Any help gratefully accepted!

I've been trying to attach a speaker bracket to a wall in the house (1895ish Victoria terrace). The wall is the main front wall of the house, so is presumably brick and plaster. I think some of the top layer is probably lime plaster, as it looks like it, though we recently had it reskimmed with pink and redecorated.

Pic of speaker and bracket:

of wall: I was drilling the holes for this, the top inch or so did seem kinda crumbly and the drill was making larger holes than intended! The presence of the occasional pebble in the mixture also helped the drill veer somewhat. It was fixed up there with the supplied screws and wall plugs (and I used the 6mm drill bit suggested in the instructions).

Close up pic of damage (you can see another pebble there):

basically, the bracket (and speaker) fell off the wall within a minute of being put up. Obviously, as well as patching up the walls, I still need to get the bracket up there and keep it up!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what filler and/or fixings to use? I could either use holes in the same locations again or go a couple of inches in either direction if new holes are a better idea.

I wouldn't mind quite so much if we hadn't just paid to have the room reskimmed and and decorated. (And there was me thinking the lath and plaster wall would be the difficult one - but I found the stud :-)

Cheers for any help!

Dave

[Andy Dingley]

Bosch Multi-Construction drills, used without hammer, will go through fragile plaster without smashing lumps out. You can also use them with hammer to drill bricks (although an SDS is better).

Drill a hole, maybe oversize, through the plaster. Then drill the brick to the right size for the plugs. Use a fairly soft plug, like a Rawl Uno. Push these deep enough into the hole that they're _entirely_ within the brick. If the plugs aren't below the plaster, then then they expand sideways, they'll either break the plaster, or they'll grip it so tightly that they pull it off the bricks when loaded. (One of these seems to have happened here, but it's hard to tell which.) Then use long enough screws to reach the deep plugs.

[fido]

Another method is to chop away the grotty plaster and fix a piece of wood t= o the brick, using several screws. This way you decide where the screws go,= into the brick and not into the cement between the bricks. (Which could ha= ppen if you're trying to match up the holes in the bracket). Then it's easy= to screw you TV bracket into the wood.

Richard

[F Murtz]

Try drilling deeper and see if it gets more solid and use long fixings.

[stuart noble]

I keep a large stock of 3 (or is it 4) mm masonry bits. If the hole is sound it gets enlarged to 6mm or whatever. No hammer action to start with. IME some cheap drills wobble under pressure, even if the bit appears to rotate normally

[The Medway Handyman]

AOL

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I tend to use Rawlbolts. They expand further than any wall plug I've come across so will usually grip even if you've hit the soft mortar between brick courses. Much more expensive than screws and plugs - but IMHO worth it for something near guaranteed to get a good fixing.

[Dave Newt]

Thanks, everyone, for the comments - really helpful.

I think drilling deeper and using longer fixings is the only way forward (with or without using a piece of wood between the bracket and the wall). I'll go have a look at some fixings today and see what I can find.

I've just had another close up look at the holes and the deepest is a good 2 inches deep, and yet still no sign of brick whatsoever! The biggest difficulty so far is all the stones mixed in with the plaster, which make the drill just go off course before you even know what has happened. (Another advantage of using the piece of wood, as the positions of the holes won't be so critical...)

Anyway, will see how I go. Will have to fix up the mess of the wall after too...

Cheers! d

[Dave Newt]

Would these make any sense, do you think?

if I just used a shorter plug into the brick, I'm not sure how I'd best fill the larger hole (ie where the plaster has been pulled off when the bracket fell). If I fill it first, then I'll be back to guessing whether I've got the plug into the brick, but on the other hand it sounds a bit clumsy to put the filler in afterwards around the screw/plug...

[The Medway Handyman]

'Kinell! £6:49 for a pack of 8 FFS?

Pack of 10 for 80p from Toolsatan.

Ten times the bloody price. Homobase are rip off merchants big time.

Plug first, fill after.

[The Medway Handyman]

Make your life easier by getting some lightweight filler

[The Medway Handyman]

>>

Kinell, just realised how cheap that is From Toolsatan. I'll buy it there in future.

[Dave Newt]

>>> 'Kinell! £6:49 for a pack of 8 FFS?

Sure, I saw cheaper ones after I posted that, but is that the sort of thing that I could use for this? Sorry, but I'm quite amateur :-)

Ta.

[Frank Erskine]

I Read That As (IRTA) "from Todmorden".

[Andy Dingley]

...but if it's from Homebase, they'll be at least four times what you ought to be paying, from Toolstation or Screwfix.

[Dave Newt]

Yes indeed - I just wanted to know if that was even an appropriate fixing for the job? It was just a more helpful photo than the one on the screwfix site.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've already said fixings of the Rawlbolt type are best as they expand more than any wall plug/screw. They are more expensive - but you tend to get what you pay for. They are also good in that you can remove the fitting easily for re-decoration, etc.

[newtonline]

Sorry - that suggestion slipped my mind when I was replying.

Will take a look, thank you. Looks like my only concern will be getting one of those long enough while still being narrow enough to fit through the bracket mounting holes. The M6 70mm might just be OK...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Only the bolt needs to fit the fixing holes. And you could likely enlarge those if needed. They tend to come with bolts or studs and nuts - but you can use longer ones if needed. I've got some M4 ones here which I use for rads.

I realise they cost more per fixing, but a small price compared to the cost of your expensive speakers falling off the wall taking chunks of plaster with them.

I've used all sorts of wall fixings and still have yet to find a better one.

[newtonline]

Thanks! (See, this is why I was in Homebase - it's easier to make sure the bolts actually fit, something I can't easily do in places like Screwstation!)

Will deffo give this type a go I think once I've found one of the right dimensions. Would rather not try to enlarge the bracket hole if I can help it - just one more thing for me to f*ck up!

Absolutely - after all the rewiring/plastering/decoration costs, a few quid on fixings (even at Homebase prices!) really is neither here nor there.

Thanks!