Drilling & Wall Fixings

Lessons

1. 01

   What Lies Beneath

   Learn where cables and pipes run inside a wall, how to choose a spot before you drill, and what to do if you hit one.

   11 steps
2. 02

   Shear, Tension and Leverage

   See which way a load pulls on each fixing, and why a deep shelf of books pulls its top screw out of the wall.

   10 steps
3. 03

   How Fixings Grip

   Learn the three ways a fixing grips (pressing out, cutting a thread, spreading behind) and match the grip to what's behind the surface.

   11 steps·Builds on Shear, Tension and Leverage
4. 04

   Reading the Wall

   Tell solid, stud, dot-and-dab and lath-and-plaster walls apart, and see why the gap behind a board decides the fixing.

   11 steps·Builds on How Fixings Grip, What Lies Beneath
5. 05

   Hanging Pictures and Mirrors

   Use picture hooks, adhesive strips, picture wire and mirror plates so that light things stay up, with no drill needed.

   10 steps·Builds on Shear, Tension and Leverage, Reading the Wall, What Lies Beneath
6. 06

   The Drill and Its Bits

   Set the mode, gear, clutch and bit for the material, so the drill does the work and you stay in control.

   13 steps·Builds on What Lies Beneath
7. 07

   The Perfect Hole

   Mark, start, keep square and set the depth so the plug sits in the masonry, then choose a screw long enough to open it.

   13 steps·Builds on The Drill and Its Bits, Reading the Wall, How Fixings Grip
8. 08

   What the Drill Tells You

   Read the dust and the push as you drill, and know which signals mean stop.

   9 steps·Builds on The Perfect Hole, Reading the Wall
9. 09

   Fixing into Brick and Block

   Read a masonry fixing packet, and set fixings that hold: deep enough, clear of joints and edges, and right for the brick or block.

   11 steps·Builds on The Perfect Hole, What the Drill Tells You
10. 10

    Fixing into Plasterboard

    Find a stud or choose a cavity fixing, and deal with the dot-and-dab gap, so a fixing in board holds.

    11 steps·Builds on The Perfect Hole, Reading the Wall, How Fixings Grip
11. 11

    A Shelf, Start to Finish

    Put up an alcove bookshelf from the first mark to the loaded shelf, using the zones, the lever, the wall and the hole together, and know where the course stops.

    11 steps·Builds on What Lies Beneath, Shear, Tension and Leverage, Reading the Wall, The Perfect Hole, What the Drill Tells You, Fixing into Brick and Block, Fixing into Plasterboard