best fitting to secure a hand rail to a plaster board wall?

[scraedpassenger]

Hi guys first post here, im currently redecorating our whole house and garden, big project!! were replaceing our tired looking wooden hand rail with a more modern chrome pole set up, my problem is the following:
the wall were it attaches has the set up as follows 10mm plaster board, 10mm gap, then breeze block. what is the best heavy duty fitting i can use, i want the bar to be secure, as there is only a wall on the other side of the stairs (no hand rail present)

thanks for any help

 

[disinfo]

Hi guys first post here, im currently redecorating our whole house and garden, big project!! were replaceing our tired looking wooden hand rail with a more modern chrome pole set up, my problem is the following:
the wall were it attaches has the set up as follows 10mm plaster board, 10mm gap, then breeze block. what is the best heavy duty fitting i can use, i want the bar to be secure, as there is only a wall on the other side of the stairs (no hand rail present)

thanks for any help

Long drill bit which goes right into the block, and then long screws with standard rawl plugs.

Drill the hole, put the rawlplug on the end of the long screw, tap in with a hammer and then tighten up with a cordless drill or screwdriver.

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

Is the existing handrail secure, if so copy the fixing method they used.

 

[scraedpassenger]

i wish i could copy it, unfortunately massively oversive nails aren't really appropriate for a metal handrail, it has to be screwed due to the mounting bracket design

thanks for the thought though!

 

[^woody^]

There is potential for the fixing to flex and dig in to the plasterboard, and gradually work loose over time

Unless there are some existing solid dabs where the brackets are to be fixed, then I would either cut a small portion of the board out and fix a timber filler pad, or fix a tube spacer between the bracket and blockwork, so that the bracket is pulled tight against the blockwork and not tight against the plasterboard.

The bracket design may not allow for long, large headed screws, in which case you will need to fix a timber pad and then fix the bracket to these with smaller screws

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

Woody you beat me to it

If the dimensions are as stated 18mm plywood is the answer, cut away a strip of the plasterboard and glue it to the breezeblock with pinkgrip or similar, you could screw it for extra security. Skim over the remaining couple of mm with a good quality filler (Toupret or similar), sand down, paint and then fit your bracket.

You have the option then of either fixing directly into the ply drilling just a pilot hole or drilling a fixing hole through the ply and into the blockwork and then using a rawlplug. If you want a longer plug look at frame fixers in your local shed.

Check out the fixings that came with your handrail and see if the plugs are any good, a lot of companies provide cheapo nasty fixings which are best filed in the bin.


Decent plug example
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Fixings-Wall-Plug/High-Performance-Nylon-Wallplugs/invt/511062

Frame fixers example
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Fixings-Frame/Frame-Fixers/invt/510049

 

[Symptoms]

scraed - if you can find any Universal Spacer Screws (very scarce these days as they appear to be no longer manufactured, maybe ebay) use them as they were designed for this situation - brilliant bits of tackle. Otherwise, use Rigifix Drywall Anchors, these are new from Screwfix and are also designed for bridging the gap behind p/board.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80693/Fixings/Cavity-Fixings/Rigifix-Drywall-Anchor-M8-Pack-of-4