Which drill bit?

[teardrop]

I have recently moved house and am having some wall problems! We reckon the house is about 270 years old and the walls are mega-thick, which is great for warmth and character, but my 'standard' drill is struggling with them! It will go in to a depth of about 1 - 2 cm but will go no further. Do I need a different drill? Different drill bit?

Strangely, I have been able to drill successfully in some parts of the house (I think this was the 'newer' extension).

Please help as I desperately need some shelves to put all of my junk on!

Also, which type of raw plugs do I need?

[You may have guessed that I am a bit of a DIY novice ]

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo teardrop and welcome

are you using mosonary bits with hammer action on high speed [2]!!!!

 

[BrynRovers]

At 270 years the house is built of stone I assume.
If you are using a battery powered drill then it will really struggle, whether the speeed or the hammer action is the cause I don't know.

Best bet is a mains powered drill, preferably SDS.

Standard rawlplugs are OK as long if the plaster coating is not too thick. With thick plaster (1" or more I normally drill out a 9mm hole and plug it with a piece of dowelling. Try to avoid a mortar joint.

 

[TicklyT]

In this part of the world I wouldn't be surprised to find 'cob' walls, built out of whatever came to hand around the site (I don't think the building control officers were quite so hot on that sort of thing in the 18th century)

Around here cob is generally a mixture of flint, chalk, clay and straw, often bound together with cow dung and covered in a layer of render to weatherproof it. As a building technique, it can't be too bad as it's still standing, but I wouldn't like to try and put a rawlplug into it.

 

[2scoops0406]

If it's flint you're trying to drill into, you have my sympathies, it is impervious to even the best masonary drills in my experience.

 

[luminaire]

One of the worst jobs I went on recently, the walls were concrete with pebble-dash on the outside.
Even with an SDS+ drill it would jump and snag. At one point I thought it was going to break my wrist. Holding onto the drill was very difficult.
The only way through was using it slowly and carefully. I sometimes had to batter my way through with a chisel as well.

 

[teardrop]

Thanks for all of the advice!!

In response to some of your comments:

I am using a mains powered drill;
The walls are made of stone (at least this is what it looks like from the outside and is what the surveyor said!);
When the Sky man came to install our new system he had a mega drill which went through the wall from outside to inside like a knife through butter - it was amazing!!

I will have another go and change the settings on the drill - but I am cautious of drilling all the plaster off the walls!

Thanks again!

 

[joe-90]

The Sky man would be using SDS. The harder the wall - the better they work.

BTW, I once drilled through a flint wall and had to throw my bit away as it had melted.