HANGING THINGS on Internal brick walls

djohn2002uk

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

This method is a girl thing - and very very moneysaving.

Exactly! Nothing personal or chauvinist mind you Dora...:p
Do the job properly with a rawlplug and screw. The times I've seen lumps of plaster come off from pulling out the smallest nail unless you twist it well to loosen it first.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

djohn2002uk wrote:

Exactly! Nothing personal or chauvinist mind you Dora...:p
Do the job properly with a rawlplug and screw. The times I've seen lumps of plaster come off from pulling out the smallest nail unless you twist it well to loosen it first.

And spend money on a drill, rawlplugs and various size screws - no thanks

ginger_nuts

is it true moneysaving women use a shoe as a hammer and a knife as a screwdriver .
I remember seeing this advertised as a woman's tool kit .

zappahey

paul_h wrote:

Any cabling buried in plaster should only be run horizontally or vertically from any sockets or switches. Always avoid these areas.

It is possible that cables may be laid in the spaces inbetween, but these should be covered by steel capping or in conduit, which will give you a bit of a warning before going through the cable...

I can only stress the word should in paul_h's post

Mikeyorks

Forget not the humble picture hook !!

Needs a smaller borrowed hammer than a masonry nail - and less likely to take your eye out if it snaps when you don't hit it quite square! The pins go in at close to 45 degrees - so your plaster should be thick enough to accomodate that before they hit the brick. And surprisingly weight bearing - so will take most of the items you listed. But always use a plug / brass screw for a heavier clock etc

Previous warnings on cables etc apply. As I have been known to put a pin from one of these between a live and neutral without touching either! But buy the 'proper' brass / bronze hooks - not the new ones with multiple tiny pins. Worse than useless - and the wife's attempts to help, in that direction, remain unsold in the local charity shop

Am equally an advocate of Screwfix :

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=picture+hooks&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1&x=10&y=9

- but not if this is all you want. Always bulk up my orders with them to £45 as object to the pp charge otherwise

djohn2002uk

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

And spend money on a drill, rawlplugs and various size screws - no thanks

If you weren't so far away I'd lend you my drill and give you a few plugs and screws.
And because I've fallen for that avatar I'd maybe even do the job for you...:D

ManAtHome

I use picture hooks for pictures, wouldn't use them clocks etc though apart from the relatively light 'kitchen' style ones. Largest picture I have is around 4x3ft on one hook (for the last 20 years or so) - canvas one without glass, several A4 size in 'rimless' glass frames etc..

As to moving pictures - you'll never do it unless you want to re-decorate!

Dora_the_Explorer_5

ginger_nuts wrote:

is it true moneysaving women use a shoe as a hammer and a knife as a screwdriver .
I remember seeing this advertised as a woman's tool kit .

We only use a shoe when we can't find the steak hammer, and we always know which drawer a knife is in which is more than can be said for the screwdriver.

Thanks for the 'almost' offer djohn - check out the grey hair, it's all real.
The reason I never pay attention to anyone who offers help with diy is because it's like delivery men, waiting in all day is not my style. Which is why my mum and uncles taught me to paper, paint, tile, grout, do simple plumbing and electrics. Poverty is a wonderful teacher.

KD

Thanks everyone for your posts - Luckily, I inherited all my fathers tools and fixings-(actually had all the things you suggested). Unfortunately, I didn't inherit his 'know how'. The 'Screwfix' site is very useful- now i can identify all the bits I've got!

I've had a go and can report that I've successfully hung the clock! Will try the pictures tomorrow.

benjus

I've got a 1930's house and I've had a lot of trouble putting rawlplugs into the walls. The problem is that the plaster crumbles too much, so when I put the screw in the plug casn't get a good enough grip. The plaster is pretty thick, so not much of the plug actually goes into the brick. Using really good plugs helps (I've got some plasplugs "Tommy Walsh" plugs that can be used with either masonry or plasterboard, and these work quite well). Another trick is to put some filler (stiff mix, not much water) into the hole before putting the plug in, then letting the filler set before putting the screw in. This works fine for medium-duty stuff but I would be wary of using it for anything really heavy. If you don't want to wait ages for the filler to dry, Wickes make something called "Wet 'n' fix" or something like that which are little circles of mesh with quick-drying filler in the mesh. You dip them in water, wrap them around the plug, then hammer the plug in. Wait about 5 minutes, then you can put the screw in.