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Tips for fastening an object to a wall

by Catherine Lear

Created on: June 14, 2009   Last Updated: July 08, 2009

How hard can it be to fasten an object onto a wall, to many people it can be quite hard, for the unwary they can drill an hole right through a cable or a copper pipe hidden behind were they are drilling. you can buy electronic gadgets that will tell you where these objects are.

Fastening objects to a wall can also be be frustrating at times, this because most people do not use the right tools and fasteners for the job. There are quite a number of different fixings that can be used and the type of wall that you fix to determines what kind if fixing you use.

If you fix something to a wall you must make sure that it will never fall off and hurt someone. Let's say for sake of argument that you are going to fix a mirror to a wall, now a mirror can be a heavy object and using the wrong type of fixing can be fatal. First look on the back of the mirror, you will see two fixing points, now take a tape measure and measure where you would like to fix the mirror. Mark with a pencil where you are going to drill the wall, now you must determine what kind of wall it is.

There are different types of walls in our homes, in most of the houses built in Britain before the Second World War the walls will be of a solid nature that means that the walls will be made of brick with a screed plaster on the top of the brick, in most of the houses built after the Second World War the walls will be plaster boards with a hollow interior.

The walls made of brick are the best walls to fix an object to all you will need are a battery drill and raw plugs and screws. The best screws to use are called 10s screws these can be 1 inches long and must be with a Philips head for screwing with a Philips screwdriver or a Philips bit attachment to your drill. They are more commonly known as pozzy heads, the raw plugs must fit the screws I recommend raw plugs that are brown.

The drill bit must fit the raw plug not the screw, just drill an hole with the drill just a bit longer than the raw plug, now with an hammer just tap the raw plug into the hole till the edge of the raw plug is flush with the wall. You are ready to screw the screw into the wall, take you screwdriver or your drill with the attachment and fit the end into the screw and turn to the right, if using a drill hold the drill firmly and squeeze the trigger gently.

You will find that the screw turns into the wall smoothly, when the head of the screw is inch from being flush with the wall it is ready to take the mirror, just offer the mirror to both the screws and you will find that nothing will pull it of the wall.

If it is a plaster board that you are fixing to, then you must use plaster board fixings or plaster board raw plugs, there are one or two types of plaster board fixings the best being metal twirlers these are spiral fixings that you screw into the plaster board then you fit a special screw that comes with it into the middle of the fitting, these in my opinion are the best that you can buy and nothing will pull the object of the wall. You cannot use these on a brick wall they are for plaster boards only.

These types of fixings can be used to fix anything to a wall, and they are easy to use, it's easy to fix something to a wall you just have to have the right tools and fittings.

Learn more about this author, Catherine Lear.
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