Help: hanging some pictures on a difficult wall

[ElPanda]

Hello, complete newbie here. My DIY experience doesn't stretch very far and I'm doing it out of necessity more than anything else. I feel that I'd probably enjoy it if I'd had some tuition as a child and, as a result, been at all good at it. But failure is always an unenjoyable experience.
Anyway, I'm in a new build and the walls are a pig in every room. I've hung some pictures and kitchen scales on some difficult before but nothing like this!! From what I can tell, I have a layer of smooth, thick plaster followed by a layer of rock-hard, crumbly concrete. More recently in several places, I have a huge hole poorly filled in with pollyfilla mocking me of my past failures.
I've used ordinary raw plugs and the massive plastic screw things which you screw a screw into. I've also used the metal version of those. None the above options screw properly. The thread doesn't seem to grab hold of the wall at all. I've even tried glueing plastic hangers to the wall and it fell off with nothing hanging on it. I'm just left with an expensive mess. Please help me?

 

[sparkwright]

Sounds like a block wall that's been plastered over.

I have to ask, are you using a power drill?

Normal practice on a solid wall is a power drill, 5.5 mm masonry bit, hammer action, rotary setting.

Red plugs, size 8 screws.

IF YOUR WALLS ARE PLASTERBOARD, WITH A GAP BEHIND THEN THE BLOCK WALL, then it is a bit more difficult. You need to carefully drill into the plasterboard, the drill into the block. Push the wall plug fully into the brick, and use a long screw, probably 2", into the plug. You may have to 'feel' for the plug.

Don't fully understand your problem, but hope this will help.

To tell if your walls are dry-lined (plasterboarded) tap on them, they will sound hollow.

 

[ElPanda]

IF YOUR WALLS ARE PLASTERBOARD, WITH A GAP BEHIND THEN THE BLOCK WALL, then it is a bit more difficult. You need to carefully drill into the plasterboard, the drill into the block. Push the wall plug fully into the brick, and use a long screw, probably 2", into the plug. You may have to 'feel' for the plug.

Don't fully understand your problem, but hope this will help.

To tell if your walls are dry-lined (plasterboarded) tap on them, they will sound hollow.

I have tried using a powerdrill but I didn't realise I had to go so far into the brick. I also have no idea if I'd go right into the neighbours house!!
I've thought for a while that there's a gap behind the plasterboard but I mentioned it to someone and they said that process doesn't exist.
Would I be able to tell the difference between plasterboard and plastered walls to look at? To they drill differently? The plaster on my walls just turns to dust.

 

[sparkwright]

One way of building houses is to adhere sheets of plasterboard to a block wall. There is a gap of around 5 mm between the back of the plasterboard and the surface of the blocks. Where there are large blobs of adhesive, there won't be a void.

This type of wall will sound hollow if you tap it, except for where there is a blob of adhesive.

The traditional method of plastering a block wall is to render over, then a thin skim over this.

Stud wall are timber framed walls, with plasterboard fixed to it. These are usually partition walls upstairs, for example. These are very hollow, and almost certainly not found adjoining your neighbours house.

When drilling a hole into a wall, the hole will need to be slightly deeper than the length of the wall plug.

You can wrap some tape round the drill bit to indicate the depth you have to drill.

DO THE WALLS SOUND HOLLOW?

 

[ElPanda]

DO THE WALLS SOUND HOLLOW?

The internal walls are all definitely partition walls. The wall joining to our neighbours house sounds more hollow than any other external wall I have ever knocked with my knuckle. The external wall just happens to be the only bare wall in our living room.
Anyway, thanks for the help. As soon as I'm home, I'll give all that a go.

 

[sparkwright]

Use a small blunt screw driver (smaller than the wall plug) and push into the wall. If it goes in half an inch or more, it's plasterboard.

If it hardly makes a mark, it's normal plaster.

Don't make any holes vertically or horizontally in line of any electrical fittings, or anywhere else where cables may be.

 

[ElPanda]

Use a small blunt screw driver (smaller than the wall plug) and push into the wall. If it goes in half an inch or more, it's plasterboard.

If it hardly makes a mark, it's normal plaster.

Don't make any holes vertically or horizontally in line of any electrical fittings, or anywhere else where cables may be.

Thanks again so very much for all the help. I don't need to do your test to know that it's definitely plasterboard. I remember how thin it was from last time I tried so I can do your test in hindsight!!