drilling into plasterboard

[iffy100]

I need to mount a bracket to my kitchen wall. The wall is plasterboard, how should I go about it? I have never done this before but will be able to do it with a bit of direction.

 

[Porque223]

I recommend carefully pushing an ice pick into the wall at your candidate location as a probe to see what is behind it. You may need to relocate the hole and caulk the pick hole.

 

[iffy100]

good point. was thinking of buying a tool to find electrical wires. Can advise on wall plugs and how to match drill bit size to screw?

 

[Diyisfun]

Use these, Don't even need to drill a hole
Use the 1st one
http://www.screwfix.com/c/screws-nails-fixings/plasterboard-fixings/cat840020

but I don't know what you are fixing, they are good, get them on ebay cheaper...

 

[iffy100]

That's an idea and a half mate. Cheers mate that will be easily done I believe

 

[Porque223]

good point. was thinking of buying a tool to find electrical wires. Can advise on wall plugs and how to match drill bit size to screw?

There is a clearance hole and pilot hole size.
A #6 machine screw in the US has a max diameter calculated by something like
[6 x 0.013"] + 0.06"
but if you publish some screw numbers and max diameters it can be checked. Machinery's Handbook has tables of this sort.

 

[iffy100]

I think this will be easy enough. I will report back if I have any problems. Thanks for all the help.

 

[foxhole]

I recommend carefully pushing an ice pick into the wall at your candidate location as a probe to see what is behind it. You may need to relocate the hole and caulk the pick hole.

Great advice, when you push the pick thru the wall and get an electric shock you will have traced the wiring.

 

[Porque223]

I recommend carefully pushing an ice pick into the wall at your candidate location as a probe to see what is behind it. You may need to relocate the hole and caulk the pick hole.

Great advice, when you push the pick thru the wall and get an electric shock you will have traced the wiring.

I assume the person probing is not grounded and the cable jacket resists mild probing. Sharp things and abrasive surfaces are reasonably foreseeable by the cable makers.
But I did once drill through a BX cable [no shock] in a customer's home, so I recommend a hand drill and being sensitive to the back resistance your intruding pick/drill/probe is giving you.
And in my own home I drilled into a water pipe [no shock], against all odds. Of course the water didn't come out until I pulled out the drill bit.

If you know how many people die of electrical shock each year [in the US, ~2K out of 330 M people] in your area we can compare that to the mortality rates for smokers, vehicle operators, roofers, etc.
In the US you are more likely to die driving on the way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery.

But I do thank you for not going all ad hominem on me!

 

[foxhole]

You are giving advice to people in the UK where we have 240volts and it kills.

 

[Diyisfun]

You are giving advice to people in the UK where we have 240volts and it kills.

He/She seems to respond to most posts, maybe ex pat feeling homesick

 

[rjm2k]

I recommend carefully pushing an ice pick into the wall at your candidate location as a probe to see what is behind it. You may need to relocate the hole and caulk the pick hole.

Before doing that, or using a detector, the OP should check out safe zones on the wiki (eg vertical/horizontal from a socket/switch).

Also, OP what weight do you need to carry on this fixing? Also, you may need different fixings for different bits of the same wall, if there is a stud behind part of it a normal screw will be enough, if it's hollow then a plasterboard type anchor will be needed.

 

[Porque223]

You are giving advice to people in the UK where we have 240volts and it kills.

I've always wondered if the electrocution mortality rate per 100,000 is higher in countries that use more than 120vac. If not, the US may be more careless.

In principle the current through the person would be doubled but the correlation to injuries or mortality is complicated.

One good link for this are papers on "Low Voltage Electrocution". Low is a relative term, here.

Maybe I should post disclaimers with my advice but it's hard to know the skills and abilities and experience of OPs.

 

[foxhole]

Only a handfull of fatal injuries in the UK due to electric shock, and a quarter of those involve workers.With 60 million in the UK it is far lower than US , but we have much more stringent regulation and better informed public than US.

 

[jabuzzard]

Only a handfull of fatal injuries in the UK due to electric shock, and a quarter of those involve workers.With 60 million in the UK it is far lower than US , but we have much more stringent regulation and better informed public than US.

Page here with real statistics

http://www.esc.org.uk/industry/policies-and-research/statistics/

Though looking at it, it is for England only. So out of 53 million people there where 28 deaths of which 22 where home or leisure related. This makes the risk about the same as getting dressed in the morning (I really kid you not). There are a lot more electrical fires, but even then only a tiny minority are caused by faulty installations.

Anyway that means you are over 10 times more likely to be electrocuted in the USA than the UK. Then again I am hardly surprised take a USA plug pull it 5mm/0.25" out a socket and there is an easy to touch live metal pin, something that is impossible in the UK unless you are using a really old unsleaved plug.