Trying to drill / screw into engineering bricks

[mikeymikec]

The current project my wife and I are having difficulty making progress on is attaching some speaker brackets to the walls. It looks like our entire house was built with what have been referred to regularly as 'engineering bricks', so any kind of work that involves putting a hole into a wall requires us to get the drill out.

We've drilled the holes and put decent-fitting rawlplugs completely into them, and we've got all of the screws at least 75% into the wall, but that's when things get wrist-knackeringly tough. I've taken the time to pick the most optimal screwdriver for the job and it is a good fit, but still. I've made a few more millimetres of progress with an adjustable wrench on the end of the screwdriver, but there must be an easier way to do this.

 

[herm0016]

sounds like the hole was not drilled deep enough for the screw?

 

[mikeymikec]

It was deep enough for the rawlplug, which is big enough for the screw. Surely that would be enough?

 

[herm0016]

you have the screw and know how deep you drilled, so check it out.

 

[pcgeek11]

Use an impact driver or drill driver with the clutch set light enough to not rip out the rawlplug.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not a fan of screws in concrete, it's so hit and miss sometimes they work sometimes they don't, sometimes they break etc.

Check out this method:

If it does not start at right spot go to 9:40

(I should probably make a better video of that one day explaining it more)


Basically, drill a hole about the same size as a galvanized framing nail then get metal wire, like what you would use for drop ceiling or rebar etc and drop a piece or two in the hole, then drive the nail right in. Make sure you can't just push the nail in otherwise add more wire. This will basically fuse the nail and wire together in the hole, and it ain't coming out. I tested this once and I broke the head off the nail before taking it out. You want to make sure you drill the hole a little deeper than the nail though, but if you happen to make it too short you'll know near the end, just hammer the head in anyway bending the nail flush, but it's best to get it all the way in.

For things that need to be able to come out or simply larger things that you want to be able to use a washer with, sleeve anchors are nice too.

 

[mxnerd]

You sure it's deep enough? If yes, then that means your hole's diameter is not big enough. When you drive the the screw into the rawplug, it has no space to expand where it's close to the surface.

 

[Micrornd]

our entire house was built with what have been referred to regularly as 'engineering bricks'

We refer to them as "structural" or "foundation" bricks.
Here it's unusual to see them above grade on a single story building or above the first floor of a two story, just based on cost.