Adventures with power drills

[Marged]

I have been planning on making an upholstered headboard for a while now, but most instructions I have for it require mounting it on the wall with a Z clip. This would be fine, but the wall in question is brick that's been plastered over.

So. How hard is it to drill into brick? Will my black & decker power drill do the trick? Some sites said I'd need a heavy duty drill and I'm not sure what that looks like nor am I inclined to buy one. I've read that I need a masonry bit, which is fine, but I'm afraid I'm going to drill into mortar because the brick is plastered over and I can't really see where it is. Is this do-able or going to be a huge nightmare?

Also, I don't have a jig saw (it would take up a little too much room in the apartment...) and don't know if I know someone who does. Will home depot cut plywood to size?

[RyanMichael]

Any good drill with a masonry bit should be fine. Drilling into mortar isn't going to be a problem for the bit, but obviously, you want your stuff mounted in the brick, not the mortar.

You might knock a chunk of the plaster away to make sure you're hitting a brick near the center. You can always patch that up later once you've sunk your mount.

If the drill starts to smoke or smell funky, then it'd probably be a good idea to stop.

Home depot will typically give you a cut or two for free, but if you act helpless or ask nicely they'll do a few more. Been there, done that.

[Marged]

Oh, and I rent. Is patching this up going to be a huge problem? I have an extremely forgiving and kind landlord but I don't want to cause any big problems.

[RyanMichael]

On second though, is this plaster over lathe, or is the plaster applied directly to the brick?

[Marged]

I'm not entirely sure but it's a non-functioning fireplace so I'm thinking it's brick.

[RyanMichael]

Your headboard is going to be on the same wall as a fireplace?

Anyways, to figure out what you'd dealing with, I'd chisel away the plaster near the floor in a corner. See what kind of thickness of plaster, see if there's any material (lathe) between the plaster and brick, etc.

[Marged]

Oh, the room arrangement is ... complicated. It makes the best use of space and it's not much of a fireplace architecturally speaking.

Alrighty, that sounds like a plan.

[Phil_Stein]

1) Probably best to discuss your plans with your landlord ahead of time.

2) If you need a somewhat complex cut on your wood (a curved pattern or something) and that's why you need a jigsaw, I wouldn't count on a big box hardware store doing it for you. I think generally they are more for doing straight linear cuts - say, cutting 30 inches of an 8 foot 2x4, or even cutting a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood in half. If all you need is to cut a large rectangular piece of wood into a smaller rectangular piece of wood, you're probably ok. That said, a friendly female asking for help at the cutting center may be able to get something a bit more complex done.

Jigsaws aren't that expensive ($30 or so?) so you might still consider buying one or checking with neighbors/colleagues to see if you can borrow one.

3) I don't think I've drilled into brick. I HAVE drilled into cement (the foundation of our house - I was trying to mount something on the outside). I think I used some special bit but I don't really remember. Anyways, I wasn't very successful. The cement sort of crumbled and I didn't get a nice clean hole. IIRC, someone told me later that I needed a special, expensive drill (reciprocating drill, maybe?). I didn't get that drill. I don't remember what my solution was. (Possibly, I mounted higher where I could drill into wood).

[RyanMichael]

A hammer drill helps when doing concrete, but a standard drill with a masonry bit will do fine providing it's not a complete POS.

[Marged]

Phil, better to ask forgiveness than permission!

[Brendan]

Also please invest in a pipe detector before drilling holes in walls

Patching the wall shouldn't be too difficult. Take some Polyfiller, fill the holes, wait until it is dry, sand it smooth and repaint.

[Lunch of Kong]

A hammer drill helps when doing concrete, but a standard drill with a masonry bit will do fine providing it's not a complete POS.

When it comes to brick, a hammer drill will do in 5 seconds what will take 5 minutes with a regular drill and masonry bit. Beg, borrow, or steal one, and you will be glad that you did.

[merryprankster]

Also please invest in a pipe detector before drilling holes in walls

Patching the wall shouldn't be too difficult. Take some Polyfiller, fill the holes, wait until it is dry, sand it smooth and repaint.

seconded.

[Pogo]

Just like you want a specialized bit to drill, you'll want masonry anchor screws, and you'll need to drill a hole slightly larger (about 1/16") than the screw.

If the brick is plastered over, I'm not sure how you'll be able to find the brick. It might be possibly to drill another hold an inch or so above a test hole and check what kind of materials falls out.

[Demon G Sides]

So... is this for an LCD Monitor or... what?

[Shadarr]

Jigsaws aren't that expensive ($30 or so?) so you might still consider buying one or checking with neighbors/colleagues to see if you can borrow one.
Probably better to rent than to buy for one job. But obviously borrowing is the best plan.

[nutsak]

Well this thread was anti-climactic. http://www.deadbored.net/qt3/qt3%20emotes/quagmire.gif

[EvilIdler]

Also please invest in a pipe detector before drilling holes in walls


Also, careful if there is a bathroom on the other side of the wall. Do not drill too deep.

[Charlatan]

If you're renting the drill, you'll get way more cred if you call it as "mason-airy" rather than "mason-ree." That's how the good old boys pronunciate it.

[Timemaster Tim]

You don't say what type of B&D power drill you have. If you have a weak cordless drill, you might be in for a lot of frustration.

[Houngan]

Based on my experience with brick, mortar, and concrete, it's all in the bit. The masonry bits you get with a big WalMart bit set aren't worth the time to chuck them. Go to a proper hardware or home store and get a real ($5 or so) masonry bit. The difference is stunning, and a cordless drill will do fine. Go slow and let the bit cool down every so often, you don't want it to get hot enough to lose hardness.

As for mounting, I had always heard to drill the mortar, not the brick, because the brick will crack. Get some soft lead anchors and bolts and you should be good to go. Note: buy the anchors before the bit, the box for the anchors will tell you what size you need.

H.

[robsam]

Don't try to drill into brick without a hammer drill. Rent one, should be cheap to rent, and they'll have the bit you need too.

[ElGuapo]

Don't try to drill into brick without a hammer drill. Rent one, should be cheap to rent, and they'll have the bit you need too.

Weaksauce. Any corded drill with a masonry bit will drill right through brick. I've done it many times.

Though I have a 1/2" drill that's an absolute motherfucker and a 1.5' long masonry bit to drill with it, so I'm covered for drilling about anything.

[Lunch of Kong]

Weaksauce. Any corded drill with a masonry bit will drill right through brick. I've done it many times.

Yeah, that's what my dad told me when he tasked me with fitting the alarm box to the outside of our brick house in England. After about 10 minutes and 1.5 inches of that bullshit, my neighbor took pity on me, called me down to his garage, said "There's a lot to be said for using the right tool for the job" and thrust his cordless hammer drill into my hands.

TAKA-TAKA-TAKA-TAKA-VHHRIIIRIRRRrrrr.... DONE!

[krise madsen]

Seriously, what are your bricks made of? Adamantium?

I once worked in a furniture store, and wall-mounted an awful lot of cupboards. If you can get a hammer drill that's fine, but any half-decent cordless with a masonry drill bit should do the job just fine. Be careful that you don't drill "uphill" (i.e. the drill is not level, but pointing slightly upwards) since the weight of the headboard then "pulls" on the screw. A little "downhill" drilling is fine though, but obviously not so much fitting the Z clip is a problem.

Also, if you have someone to help you, have him/her hold a vacuum cleaner just below the hole as you drill, sucking up the dust. Much easier than trying to vacuum it out of the carpet later.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[red guy]

There are different kinds of bricks. The stuff used for building (yellow) brick roads is littered with tiny pebbles that are impenetrable for non-hammer drills. But bricks of the "baked clay" type are often soft enough that a hammer drill is complete overkill.

Apparently, the Brits build their houses sturdy enough to let you walk on the walls.

[Brendan]

Ok, to avoid masonry dust getting on the carpet, get some tape and tape an open envelope just below the hole you are drilling so that it catches most of the dust.

Also those English houses were built back when bricks were bricks, not wimpy little cinder blocks.

[Marged]

http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=8144

This is similar to my drill. Not cordless but apparently not suited for drilling into brick?

[krise madsen]

http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=8144

This is similar to my drill. Not cordless but apparently not suited for drilling into brick?

That should do just fine with ordinary clay bricks.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[wisefool]

Please wear safety googles unless you want a Halloween costume.

[Marged]

Will do!

[Marged]

Alright, we've been working on a different project. Installing some wall shelves in the kitchen.

I'm pretty much a huge n00b and didn't realize that any power drill could also be used as a power screw driver. That was revelatory. However, we're having a problem. We found the studs and started installing the brackets, and everything was going fine, but at one point on the wall our 1 1/2" screws are suddenly hitting something about 1 1/4" into the stud. The drill just spins and ruins the screw, they're a bitch to get out, and we've ruined a few holes in the wall as a result. We didn't have this problem at the same stud, a foot down.

Is this hitting a pipe or something awful/electrical? The wall shouldn't have any plumbing in it, I wouldn't think, but what would I know? Should we flip off the breakers for the kitchen to avoid our inevitable electrocution? I can turn off the power through the breaker box, right? Electricity is scary!

[RyanMichael]

Use a studfinder (a good one, don't cheap out) to try and find if there's any metal/AC behind the wall in those locations. Studfinding is something of an art (insert joke here), so it'll take some practice to get consistent results.

[Tman]

Sounds like a pipe. Could be plumbing, natural gas, or maybe vacuum pipe. Could also be duct work. FYI - Wire will not stop a screw.

When was your house built? Reason I'm asking is today's code requires that nail plates are installed on studs where pipe/wire are within 1 1/4 of stud face. Nail plates wouldn't be 1 1/4 inches in however, they would be just under the drywall (1/2" at most).

If your house is really old, like 1940's or earlier, could be your walls are plasterlath and the lath slats will feel like a stud (screw will "grab" unlike when you screw into drywall).

It also could be that you're hitting an electrical box that is a switch on the other side of the wall.

[Marged]

The house is old but the interior walls of the apartment are newish - if I had to guess, I'd say 20-30 years at most - and the walls in question are definitely dry wall.

The screw goes in more than 1/2".

[Marged]

Hahahaha oooooooooooooooh... well, we installed them using shorter screws but at one point while drilling we lost power in our outlets. According to Geoff's cousin we probably "nicked" a wire and the GFI outlets shut off. Yikes...

[Tman]

Hahahaha oooooooooooooooh... well, we installed them using shorter screws but at one point while drilling we lost power in our outlets. According to Geoff's cousin we probably "nicked" a wire and the GFI outlets shut off. Yikes...

Did you lose power to the outlet the drill was plugged into, or another outlet? How did you "fix" it so the power came back on? If it was the outlet the drill was plugged in, likely you just overloaded that circuit & didn't touch a wire at all.

This could be very serious. If you "nicked" a wire - and subsequently pulled the screw back out, bare wire is still present and you could cause a fire. (If you didn't pull the screw out, then likely you could not "reset" the outlet because the short would exist). Breakers are good insurance, but they will only trip if current exceeds the breaker rating, and not all sparks / fires will cause breakers to trip.

If you determine you in fact did nick a wire - you've now opened up a serious amount of work. You will need to remove drywall and replace that wire.

[Marged]

We lost power on all the outlets in the kitchen, and we didn't take the screw out - just pressed the reset button on one of the outlets and the power came back.

[beecubed]

Were you plugged in to one of the outlets that lost power? If so, it was probably just the GFCI tripping. They are very touchy and nuisance trips are pretty common.

[Marged]

Were you plugged in to one of the outlets that lost power? If so, it was probably just the GFCI tripping. They are very touchy and nuisance trips are pretty common.

Yeah, it was plugged into the outlet that lost power.

I hope that's all it was, although it was fine for all the other drilling we were doing.

[Moore]

http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=8144

This is similar to my drill. Not cordless but apparently not suited for drilling into brick?

I killed a b&d cordless drilling into brick, go to biglots or somethnig and grab a $10 corded drill - that tech is old and even cheapies can still spin some shit fast.

If it's just red normal brick, that and chepa masory bit will do fine. I drilled into my fireplace and chimney with one.

[Tman]

Yeah, it was plugged into the outlet that lost power.

I hope that's all it was, although it was fine for all the other drilling we were doing.

This sounds very plausible and not huge concern for worry. Drills can consume 1/2 the rated amperage just spinning up to power.

As an FYI - you might want to map out all the outlets on each circuit, b/c if your fridge is on a GFCI circuit, you could lose power inadvertendtly and if you're gone for a weekend, you could come back to spoiled food.

[Marged]

Phew, thanks. I feel better. And now that I think about it, Geoff's cousin suggested a "nick" before we figured out that the outlet was on a GFCI circuit.

[Marged]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/3287001975_2d1a784429.jpg

They look so nice! I love them. I want to install shelves everywhere but I'm also a little freaked out by the experience.

[Morberis]

I killed a b&d cordless drilling into brick, go to biglots or somethnig and grab a $10 corded drill - that tech is old and even cheapies can still spin some shit fast.

If it's just red normal brick, that and chepa masory bit will do fine. I drilled into my fireplace and chimney with one.


Really? Am I the only one that finds that odd? At my last job we had an old off the shelf mastercraft that I used to drill dozens of holes into red brick and cement and it powered through that just fine. In fact the only time it acted odd was when I had it on high and I was unbolting rusted signs, causing the drill to uh.. smoke. It was fine afterwards though.