Bad quality walls ...PLEASE ADVISE!!?
Question:I live in a Victorian conversation home. I am about to redecorate and am concerned about how to drill holes in the walls,the inside of the walls are bad,crumbly and have flint pebbles within the mortar which just crumbles so i cant get a good fixing when i drill,and cant drill a straight hole,it goes of centre and ends up wonky!. Does anyone have any tips for me? Am i going to have to drill big holes first,fill them with quick drying cement and then re drill the size i need from fresh?
Answers:
sounds like an old stone wall with lime mortar which was used to build with back in those times, there is no ideal way of getting a straight hole , its a case of try and try again to find a good fixing ,.
fixings will not hold very well in the lime mortar as it becomes soft and crumbly the older it gets, try and dig out the old lime mortar and replace it with new sand and cement mix , and use that area for fixings.
Try taking a nail and making a hole with it first. It will give your drillbit a path to follow. And it will be much easier to get it started where you want.
You could also use a "scratch awl" to start your hole. It would be easier to remove without marring the wall.
yeah what don and puzz said!
You can use a type of metal wall anchors. Go to your local hardware store and ask for some of these. It will fix your problem for sure!
If the wall is lathe and plaster then find he wooden uprights and fix to them otherwise I use a longer frame bolt and get a good fixing by going deeper into the wall. If the positioning is critical then you may have to fix a wooden batten first then final fix to that. How about fixing the old fashioned picture rail and hanging your stuff from that ?
My walls are cast concrete with pebbles..same type of prob. I mark my wall with a large cross, exactly where i want the hole, then drill a larger hole with an S.D.S drill, suck out the dust, liberal brushing in the hole of PVA, then Quick Setting Cement. Before this sets, I can pick up where I need the hole from my big cross, then use an old phillips screwdriver in the cement to make my hole, tap in the plug, spot on right..Coffee time while it sets.
A small masonry bit may work for you. I just put the picture molding (trim to hang pictures from on wires) in and old house and its what I had to use . And yes the holes are still going to wonder on you. This must be why they painted pictures on the wall instead of hanging them.
Good luck
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