Drilling into old VERY hard concrete - or give up and use "no nails"?

[Jonathan]

Trying to help a friend with a sprained neck mount a 14" tv on a bracket in a 70's flat with internal concrete walls using a standard hammer drill So, the tv isn't THAT heavy, but the concrete is just not giving! I drilled a smaller pilot hole (took 5 minutes to go 1" with a 5mm bit) but when it came to the 8mm bit, really nothing was happening. I gave up after about 15 minutes and 3mm having gone slightly deaf!

Do I: Drive all the way to B&Q and see if there is some super drill bit for ridiculously tough concrete (is there?) , OR, use a good splurge of "no nails" to glue a square of wood into the wall, and then drill into that?

Only problem with that would be how she removes said square of wood when bracket isn't needed or when she moves out and the landlord comes to not paying the deposit...

[tony sayer]

In article , Jonathan writes

Just get yourself a SDS drill and marvel how easy it will make this job.

Last year I renovated my parents old house and I remember him when he used a thump and turn chisel type bit when he tried to put anything else up when I were a lad, and in later years burning out and blunting drills etc.

However with the Makita SDS it was so easy I just couldn't believe it and really it was a pleasure doing hole drilling after that!....

[Andy Hall]

Neither. Invest in an SDS drill - either Bosch or DeWalt (cost £80-90). This will allow you to drill into the concrete like butter. However, do make sure that you give the impression to the lady that it is taking considerable effort so that she will think that you are a real he-man. Hopefully, she will be very grateful.

No-More-Nails is not safely adequate for a job like this.

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that Jonathan formulated :

You need to look up an SDS drill and bit. Expensive for a single use though, but it is the only way. 'No Nails' will certainly _not_ support that kind of weight - fine for holding the wood batten alone, but not for anything attached to the batten.

[dennis]

I wouldn't rely on glue to hold a TV bracket. As other posters have said an SDS drill will go through concrete with ease. However an ordinary hammer drill shouldn't struggle that much. Are you sure you are not drilling rebar? If you are, stop before you do structural damage. Move the hole a bit and try again.

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] laid this down on his screen :

So what's wrong with SDS ? :-)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Cheaper to buy a step ladder and place it on that,no need to drill wall then. ;-)

[Owain]

Or get those spectacles with a prism in, intended for watching telly in bed.

Owain

[Weatherlawyer]

It sounds like you had found the steel. Even an SDS won't drill through that.

You might try a steel drill but be prepared to throw that away. But it will be cheaper than buying an SDS then finding you still have the problem.

Where exactly is the concrete?

[Chris Bacon]

I've got an SDS jigsaw. It used to cut quite well.

[Harry Bloomfield]

In that case, you can usually see bits of metal swarf on the tip of the drill bit.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Oh it will -- rebar in concrete is not a problem for SDS. Of course, that's a really bad thing to do in a lintel, where you often have only a single rebar anyway.

[Dave]

Tungsten carbide has no magnetic properties, so I doubt that.

Dave

[Jonathan]

Wow - so many replies, I was expecting maybe one. OK, to deal with each in turn, firstly...thanks to all!

In the dividing wall between two rooms - a pipe finder didn't beep, so I'm assuming that means no reinforcing there. Or did you mean where as in "SW1"?!?

Tried that too!

I know, they're pretty good for power tools - I bought a load a few months ago. I see you had success with an SDS drill from Aldi too:

'll have to keep an eye open for their next special on that!

Definitely not!

[Weatherlawyer]

Were there any pieces missing or was it all in your head?

[The Medway Handyman]

You can hire an SDS drill from a tool hire shop which should do the job. Just checking - your drill wasn't in reverse was it?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Oh, no he didn't - This was written by Chris Bacon :-

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave formulated the question :

...and the tunsten carbide bit is attached to what material?

[The Medway Handyman]

SDS stands for the initial letters in German of (something like) Insert, Twist, Lock. It was invented by Bosch and refers to a method of fixing a drill bit or blade. The letters don't have anything to do with pnumatic hammers although we use them that way.

[tony sayer]

Hire such a useful tool???. Haven't got a birthday coming up?, make an excellent present to yourself!.