Fixing things to lightweight block walls

[Chris Melluish]

The internal wall on my extension is made of some
sort of lightweight blocks (thermalite?).

I have had varying succcess in fixing things to the walls,
and was wondering what other people had found works best.

I tried some Fischer multi-purpose plugs, which said they
were suitable for everything including 'Aircrete', to hold a
thermostatice shower mixer, but I think these are working
loose.

I am about to put up a corner shelf to hold a television,
and would like to feel confident that it is not going
to fall down.

The original house has the opposite problem - it appears to
be made of engineering bricks throughout.

--
Chris Melluish

[John Schmitt]

In article <7arq1q$83d$1...@pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk>,
ch...@melluish.demon.co.uk (Chris Melluish) writes:

>The internal wall on my extension is made of some
>sort of lightweight blocks (thermalite?).

>I have had varying succcess in fixing things to the walls,
>and was wondering what other people had found works best.

I have used ?Plasplugs lightweight block fastenings, and I felt a fair degree
of confidence that they would hold. They are blue in colour, and you drill a
relatively large hole (I think 8mm) in the block, then the plug screws into the
block (? thread O.D. 12mm), and finally a plastic pin is driven down the side
of the fastening to prevent the thread unscrewing. The final stage is to screw
a standard woodscrew down the centre of the fastening to affix whatever it is.
The manufacturers should be able to give you information on the safe bearing
capacity of the fixings.

(courtesy copy by email)

John Schmitt

But still, Wittgensteinians dress like slobs, and it was a pleasure to see so
many well-dressed philosophers in one place. - D.M. Procida

Disclaimers apply.

[Stuart Grant]

A friend of mine has a 3 yr old house with very soft internal block
walls. Drilling rubs the sides and produces a tapered hole. The best
fixings I've obtained is to run a 3 inch No 10 twinfast screw straight
into the wall with no pre-drilling at all.
Stuart Grant

[Keith Mendum]

Chris Melluish wrote:
>
> The internal wall on my extension is made of some
> sort of lightweight blocks (thermalite?).
>
> I have had varying succcess in fixing things to the walls,
> and was wondering what other people had found works best.
>

[snip]

1. Screw-in plugs as per John Schmitt
2. Long frame fixings - 80mm min in the block, 100mm for anything heavy.
3. Cut nails - your skirting board is probably fixed with these.
4. Chemical anchors (epoxy or other resin) - quite forgiving of oversize
holes.

Drill any holes 0.5mm smaller than required, don't use a masonry bit and
don't use hammer action.

Oh yes, hammerfix anchors are useless, they simply dril themselves
further into the block!

If you contact Thermalite (in London, IIRC), they should be happy to
send you a technical handbook for their aircrete blocks, which includes
a section on fixings.

--
Keith Mendum
My opinions, not Shell's
Check addresses before replying.

[John]

Chris Melluish wrote in message
<7arq1q$83d$1...@pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk>...

>The internal wall on my extension is made of some
>sort of lightweight blocks (thermalite?).
>
>I have had varying succcess in fixing things to the
walls,
>and was wondering what other people had found works
best.
>

>I tried some Fischer multi-purpose plugs, which said
they
>were suitable for everything including 'Aircrete', to
hold a
>thermostatice shower mixer, but I think these are
working
>loose.
>
>I am about to put up a corner shelf to hold a
television,
>and would like to feel confident that it is not going
>to fall down.
>

I had a radiator that kept pulling away from a similar
wall in a works changing room. It turned out that it was
a useful step-up to open/close a high level window. I
tried going up sizes (twice) on the fixing screws with
limited success. Eventually drilled right through the
wall, passed some 6mm screwed rods right through and
used plates and nuts on both sides. It never came off
again!
--
Please note antispam measures - do not hit reply
Warning to Spammers - I ALWAYS complain to your ISP
Regards,
John

[Chris]

Chris Melluish wrote:
>
> The internal wall on my extension is made of some
> sort of lightweight blocks (thermalite?).
>
> I have had varying succcess in fixing things to the walls,
> and was wondering what other people had found works best.
>
> I tried some Fischer multi-purpose plugs, which said they
> were suitable for everything including 'Aircrete', to hold a
> thermostatice shower mixer, but I think these are working
> loose.
>
> I am about to put up a corner shelf to hold a television,
> and would like to feel confident that it is not going
> to fall down.
>

> The original house has the opposite problem - it appears to
> be made of engineering bricks throughout.

A big blob of Araldite into the hole before the plug has
sorted the problem for me. The price of some of these
'special' fixings put me off doing it properly.
If it works what the hell.

Chris

[magicr...@gmail.com]

AAC blocks are the most cost effective and eco-friendly material used as substitute of traditional clay bricks. It is recommended by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) as material of choice for LEED certification and offers cost savings up to 40% due to huge savings in structural costs and increase in floor space area. It is termed as the wonder building material.

http://www.magicrete.in/index.php

[magicr...@gmail.com]

[brass monkey]

<magicr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:fe3f1eb3-b58f-4710...@googlegroups.com...

Really? Wow.
Now piss off.