Holes in walls too big....

[amyboo]

Husband and I tried to fit some wall lights last night. We drilled the holes, but then found that the rawl plugs were turning in the holes once we started tightening the screws. It's an old flat and the walls can be quite crumbly. We did drill far enough into the masonary, but it appears we obviously drilled with a drill bit that was slightly too large. Is there any easy way to solve this now?

I saw in an answer to another post, someone was recommending resin to squirt in the holes, then pushing the rawl plug in. Is this maybe the best solution? I'll buy some larger rawl plugs, but the holes now seem to be so cr*p that I'm worried they still won't hold well enough....

And, to add more worry, we have a massive set of wall mounted shelves to put back up at the weekend and I'm worried we'll have the same problem. Should we be drilling holes with a drill bit slightly smaller than the rawl plug? The husband says it's hard to control the hammer drill when it hits the masonary, so the holes he's drilling sometimes end up bigger than required.... Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Chud]

If you're certain you're well in to the masonry and not just in thick plaster there are a few things you can do - I suspect even though you've drilled into the masonry the plug may not be in enough wall to anchor itself - I'd probably do the following:

squirt/apply stabilising solution to the crumbly stuff around the hole.
squirt gripfill/no more nails into the hole and insert rawlplug.
insert end of screw into rawlplug (whilst adhesive is still wet) turn a few times and then gently tap with hammer to seat the plug well into the masonry.
When adhesive is dry fix up the shelves etc.

Or you could use a bigger plug and again tap it into the wall with a screw and hammer.

 

[confidentincompetent]

Tried putting anothre smaller plug into the first plug??

Sometimes I resort to the traditional plug : champfer a nice peice of softwood to fit, then bash in and cut protuditing bit off, that'll never come out

 

[54aardvark]

Aye, 'dwangs' are great - the only problem is if you have to remove them!

 

[JohnD]

Wash out the hole, squirt in no-more-nails or similar (put the nozzle at the back of the hole to prevent a bubble of air; push in the plasplug, smooth off the sludge with a wet finger, leave it overnight to harden.

Result: a very firm plug with a good grip even in a crumbly wall.

The best new DIY tip I've learned in years.

Be aware that plugs and screw supplied with shelves and other accessories are usually cheap, flimsy and too short. I always use brown plugs and 40mm screws. The plug should preferably be tapped slightly below the surface of the plaster to reduce cracking (this also makes it easier to fill and redecorate later)

 

[amyboo]

Thanks for the helpful tips! I think I found the Belgian equivalent of No More Nails. I used that in the smaller holes, and then some evil resin bonding stuff in the larger problem holes, and it's worked a treat. All the rawlplugs are solid as anything! Thanks so much for all your helpful tips!