hanging a cooker hood off a dry wall

penpitt

I've just about given up and called some local handy men to give me a quote, but in the meantime I'm being optimistic and thought I'd ask if anyone can instruct me, and hopefully save myself the call out fee ...

I'm putting up a glass cooker hood on a dry wall. Having only ever had experience drilling into solid brick walls I stupidly used the fittings that came with the cooker hood. The hood went on the wall fine but I took it down after a persistent gut feeling that it wasn't secure enough.

On looking at my hole through the wall (for ducting) I deduced it was a dry wall (my house was built in 1998). No problem, went to B&Q, and was given some hammer in brick and blockwork fixings - basically long 80mm plugs and nails - the idea being I drill a hole into the blockwork behind the plaster and through the gap.

Armed with a brand new Bosch drill (£89 on special !) I have spent 1/2 hour drilling about 2cm in the block work behind the plaster. It feels like concrete. Certainly looks like concrete. Where am I going wrong? I'm using a 80mm masonary bit on my drill.

The cooker hood weights about 13kg by the way and unfortunately the 4 drill holes are nowhere near the studs. Since it's a telescopic chimney one it needs to really be flush against the wall.

I spent a lot of time at B&Q and spoke to 3 different people - none of them basically were very sure what to use. I've spent about a week on this so far, and have all the parts with me ready to go! It would be shame not to be able to find a way to drill into the hall.

Can anyone suggest anything? Thank you.

kwatt

Could you not use normal heavy duty plasterboard fixings and just put it straight onto the board?

K.

penpitt

I wish I could but apparently behind a dry wall not enough space in the cavity to use the fixings (such as toggle ones) for taking heavier loads. For taking heavier loads it's recommended you fix through the space into the wall behind. This is according to the 3 guys at B & Q, and everything I've googled so far.

jc808

Really you need to drill through, plug the masonry/ block wall and have the screws go all the way back

Procrastinator333

Does your drill have hammer action? If yes, use that.

Also, if hard work, do you have smaller drill bits to start it off? Then expand the hole with larger drill bits....

YorkshireBoy

Getting right back to basics, and I'm in no way trying to insult your intelligence here, but has the drill been accidentally knocked into reverse mode (normally a plastic lever near the trigger, or a push/slide mechanism on the side of the drill)?

Because I'd expect a drill such as the one you bought (and indeed most drills costing considerably less) to sail through the breeze block normally behind plasterboard on dabs in a modern property.

iveco_man

you need to use an sds drill which is hammer action not a diy tool that is percusion(told it is hammer but is not ,) sds will go through concrete like butter.

Steve_the_fitter

cut some of the plasterboard out obviously so the cut out is hidden by the hood then battern off the brick and attach the hood to it. If you do it right this will be strong enough but if you wish you could put silicon on the back of the hood when fitting it and this will act a clue on the plasterboard

penpitt

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Getting right back to basics, and I'm in no way trying to insult your intelligence here, but has the drill been accidentally knocked into reverse mode (normally a plastic lever near the trigger, or a push/slide mechanism on the side of the drill)?

Because I'd expect a drill such as the one you bought (and indeed most drills costing considerably less) to sail through the breeze block normally behind plasterboard on dabs in a modern property.

I had that same thought while drilling away - but no, the push/slide mechanism on the drill was pointing the right way! I have the right drill attachment (took it to B&Q and got the guys to check!!). I have drilled through solid brick lots of time - and walls in older houses of various constructions, but never this hard concrete type stuff! Still not sure where I am going wrong!

penpitt

iveco_man wrote: »

you need to use an sds drill which is hammer action not a diy tool that is percusion(told it is hammer but is not ,) sds will go through concrete like butter.

Thanks. Looks like this is what I need. Damn. I thought buying such an expensive drill would cover me for basics!

penpitt

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

Does your drill have hammer action? If yes, use that.

Also, if hard work, do you have smaller drill bits to start it off? Then expand the hole with larger drill bits....

Thanks - I'll give it a go.