A fixing into a plastered brick wall through tiles.
Most of the fixings went well - wall plugs pushed through the tiles into the brick. But one obviously hit the soft old mortar, and won't tighten.
Anything that could be squirted through the hole to give a decent fixing? Or any other ideas? I'm already at the limit of the longest screws I can find in that diameter.
It depends a bit on whether you have a blind hole or whether you have gone into a void of any significant size. Polyester resin is one of the classic "fixes" for this sort of problem, but perhaps a bit expensive for just the one, and a small hole. Also, how strong does the fixing have to be?
If probing suggests you have a reasonably small blind hole, it's just that the plastic plug is spinning, then one strategy would be to inject a surplus of epoxy glue, then push in the plug and wait for it all to set. Make sure the plug is all the way through the tile. If the void is larger but still fillable could you inject in mixed up car body filler to fill it completely? Forget the wall plug, just drill a pilot hole and let the screw grip on the filler.
If you have a large syringe a two part epoxy would do it. I should warm it a bit first so it's runny, and be prepared to squirt in a lot more than you'd think. As preparation you could drill through the hole slightly diagonally to make a bigger cavity. You could enlarge the hole through the tile with a little round file if necessary. Put gaffer tape over the hole to keep the resin in.
Bill
Hot melt glue works well, pump it in and be quick with the plug.
pva, gripfill, pva and newspaper, matchsticks, more pva, caulk, another wall plug, pva.
TW
Old terraced house with thin party walls ? :-)
Plus the victorians old favourite - horse hair.
My solution to this type of problem would be to first remove the plug, then get a syringe (without needle - the type used for filling ink cartridges) and force clean water into the hole. Mix some filler and after again wetting down the inside of the hole force the filler into the hole using the back end of the drill bit to pack it to the back of the hole. If you don't wet the hole sufficiently the water in the filler will be immediately sucked out by the dry brickwork and become somewhat ineffective. Either allow the filler to dry and re-drill for the plug or whilst still wet re-drill very slowly by hand to the exact depth of the plug and insert the plug. Allow everything to dry before inserting the screw.
A sloppy gritty sand cement mix often works better than a smooth filler.
Yes I did that many years ago with a toilet roll holder, its still on the wall! Brian
Snag is due to the uneven plaster, I used dot and dab for the tiles. Meaning there is very likely a void between the tile and hole in the brick. It's approx 35mm from the outside of the tile to the bricks.
Some form of syringe with a long needle would allow me to inject gunge into where the wall plug is - but where to get one that long?
I have the tee shirt. You will not get anything much thicker the consistency of water down the needle.
How strong a fixing do you need? If it's a relatively light load, you may get away with one of those grey universal plugs which you can use in either brick or plasterboard. If it's a good fit in the tile (don't push it right through) the tile may be able to support the load.
If you really mean you've got 35mm from tile to brick, I'd just bung filler in & redrill. The filler creates solid sides for your new hole, which you can then fill as needed.
The 35mm is only where I measured it. The Victorians used the most irregular bricks where they knew it was going to be plastered, and kept the best one where on show.
My worry about simply filling the void is that the load will be taken by the tile - unless it bonds well to the brick. As the plaster ain't up to taking much load.
Thing is I'd need a 'needle' or tube from the syringe which is reasonably rigid to direct the epoxy or whatever into the hole in the brick. And that would likely mean steel, to fit through the hole in the tile, and have a large enough flow.
You can get large syringe needles, certainly up to about 8G which is over 1/8" ID. Should work with two part epoxy or cementitious tile glue.
If the plaster is anything like mine (10mm+ thick) and a sandy type mix squirt some 50:50 water:PVA mix into the hole and let it dry. Then do a filler of your choice. This will stabilise the plaster around the hole and make it less likely to crumble.
As has been mentioned before there are different types of wall plugs and if you have been using the standard brown/red/blue/yellow type then a different type of plug may work better if the inside of the hole has been stabilised with PVA.
These days I prefer this type
Just a random thought: with a suitable tube you could fill it with a substance of your choice and use the back end of a suitably sized drill bit as the plunger to push out the contents
Apply some grease to the thread of 'your longest screw', then mix some Plastic Padding car body filler and quickly before it sets and using a syringe, squirt it deeply into the hole. Push it in as full as you can get it, then put the screw in, but not all the way. Later, once it has set, you can tighten the greased screw.
I met similar in my father's house in Edinburgh when putting hand rails. The house was built of stone, so, much more irregular. I think I ended up with 4 inch screws.
I did that once.
Bill
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