Rawl plugs..

[Quilted]

Another genius and another John

I will be doing the no more nails trick!

I already use a hoover on the holes and then blast compressed air in there to clear out any rubbish.

I'm right in buying "UniBond No More Nails Interior Grab Adhesive Cartridge" it says on it that it holds in 10 seconds... is that the wrong stuff because it's quick drying, or is that ok?

 

[JohnD]

I bet you pay more than 50p for a tube though

 

[Quilted]

I ended up getting Hard as Nails off ebay for £2 a pop.

 

[Quilted]

I ended up changing my mind and getting a Makita SDS hammer drill. I suspect I may have gone overboard but I got it for a very good price.

I'm now thinking that I should be careful and not drill into electrical cable. My Dad never bothered, he says he knows where the cables are in his house and I should be able to remember the rewire in mine. Right you are Dad.

I think I'll be happy if I have one of those detector things to pick up wires in the wall.

I've not the faintest idea what to buy... would anyone be able to recommend something?

 

[wingcoax]

If your re-wire was done properly, your cables should be in "safe zones".

 

[Quilted]

I'm still a bit wary all the same. One of the places I'm going to be drilling is beside the boiler, and I know I asked for the cables for that to be sunk into the wall and a switch installed. I'm reasonably sure I won't be near the cable but I'd rather be completely sure.

Perhaps it's a bit of paranoia but I'd like to have something that detects cables. The walls are all solid so I'm not sure if the electricians took any short cuts.

 

[Burnerman]

Aha there's nothing like the satisfying bang when drill meets cable
For what its worth, something like Screwfix 23932 is a great bit of kit....although really for touching against insulation, mine does detect cable in the wall if its not too deep....scarcely to be relied on though.
Other stud / cable / noggin detectors are available and again you get what you pay for.
Cable runs should be vertical where possible.
One simple tip though, if you are trying to trace cable, make sure the appliance is actually switched on...... unless its a ring main or loop in etc.
John

 

[Quilted]

I'm still not able to grasp things in the way that I'd like.

I understand the wall plugs - I'm about to order 100 fischer red and 100 fischer yellow ones.

I need screws for them and a bit of googling shows that yellow takes 6-8 and red takes 8-10.

Earlier in the thread I was advised to buy Spax screws (I assume wood screws?)

I'm looking but it seems size 8 and size 10 screws aren't easy to come by.

I think I want about 25mm size 8 and 35mm size 10, give or take a few mm.

The shop I'm ordering from doesn't do any bigger than 6 x 60mm, which I understand is too small (I think) and too long.

What am I misunderstanding and what screw sizes should I be going for?

 

[wingcoax]

The screw sizes recommended by the plug manufacturer are the "old" screw sizes in wire gauge and the sizes from manufacturers are in metric. The two are quite a bit different.

 

[Quilted]

Yes, that was what I was thinking.

I had a look around and conversion chart seemed to be saying a good size for yellow was 3.5mm and a good size for red was around 4.5mm.

I'm guessing for wall plugs I want to be somewhere near the largest size the plug can take, but not at the upper limit.

This is what I found

http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/specpages/screwgauge.htm

It seems to be saying that the max a red can take is 4.88 and the max a yellow can take is 4.17.

Am I right to be ordering 3.5mm x 25mm for yellow wall plugs and 4.5mm x 35mm for red wall plugs?

 

[Burnerman]

I would think thats about right - you'll soon be able to tell whether you've chosen the correct screw....too large a diameter and it'll be hard going turning the screw in, too small the screw won't pull up tight.
Why not have some practice at a wall where things don't matter - say in a garage or similar?
John