Whats behind plasterboard? General problems, solutions, information and advice on fixing to walls of all kinds

[themookybarkid]

Im trying to put a picture up in my kitchen. My walls are all plasterboard and Ive put up numerous pictures elsewhere in the house.

For some reason when I drill into this kitchen wall, I go through the plasterboard and come up against something really hard, that my drill wont go through. Tapping the drill bit against it makes it sound like it could be either a metal plate or some quite dense stone.

I have now drilled three different holes into the kitchen wall and come up with this problem each time. Ive even tried borrowing a more powerful drill and still am getting nowhere. Ive never had this problem with any of the other walls in my house and am getting a bit stuck now.

I dont really want to open up the wall to see whats behing, I just want to put up a picture. Can you shed any light on this for me??

[DUDE DIY]

Sounds to me that your hitting your brickwork. Are you drilling into an outside wall? the reason all your other pictures went up ok is becasue they may well be on inside walls?....best thing to do is consider how deep does your hole to hang a picture really need to be. Is there a simple cheap alterantive to hang your picture?

[themookybarkid]

No its an interior wall. The pictures on exterior walls all went up no bother. The drill I am using will go through brick/masonry without any problem.

I need to use a rawl plug of some kind to get the picture up safely (its quite heavy) and I cant get the hole deep enough for the smallest plug I have.

Any other ideas?

[DUDE DIY]

Im guessing you have some clearance between the plaster board before you hit the tough piece of wall?....if you thinking about using plastic wall plugs on a heavy picture, as you would guess yourself, this wouldnt provide a strong enough fix to hold the frame. My other suggestions would be to buy a good quality masonary drill for around £10 bit and drill ( if available ) to give you more clearance. A cheaper soloution would be to buy some heavy duty metal self fixing screw /plugs which are self tightening when screwed into the wall. These are great when fixing to plaster board. These are available form all DIY store for a few pounds in lots of varyitys. Hope this helps?...good luck with it.

[LEO292]

I get this quite a lot in the houses I work in. The wall has been whats known as dry lined. Which means its a solid wall with plasterboard dabbed onto it. Its a cheaper way to plaster a solid wall without using sand and cement, and it dosent need any drying time. Its a process which is now used in new houses and walls which need new plaster. Its not a problem, you just need a longer drill bit and screws (say..3 inch. If its a heavy picture divide the length of the picture into 3 equal parts and fix 2 screws into the wall sticking out half an inch. Fit 2 steel eye screws to the back of your picture about a third of the way down and a piece of string. Hang and enjoy the view! Easy. Hope this helps, Leo.

[paulhunter]

I am drilling into what I think is a stud wall with plaster board but after I get through the plaster board I seem to hit metal. I am trying to drill holes to for plugs for screws. Any ideas what this is and whether I should drill through it?
I tried drilling above and below the first hole and get the same thing. Its a new house and its an internal wall.