Plasterboard Drilling for Hanging up a Bathroom Cabinet - Advice Needed General problems, solutions, information and advice on fixing to walls of all kinds

[maitreya.kapasi]

Hello,

I am trying to fit a bathroom cabinet to a plasterboard wall. I did metal and voltage check and it was safe. I drilled about 2 cm and then I was not able to drill easily. When I checked again, I saw a metal pin inside the hole. Please find attached picture of it. When I do metal check on the exact hole then it show warning sign there.

I have few questions if you can help me on this:

1) Do you know what the metal pin could be? Is it safe to drill further?

2) Plasterboard seems to be at least 1 inch thick. The bathroom cabinet is 12 kgs, can you please suggest which screw I should use? I bought hollow wall anchors but looks like it wont work. Can self-drilling screw work for 12-15 kg?

Thank you.

[proptech]

Hi
You've got me wondering exactly what this wall really is. I wouldn't expect plasterboard to be an inch thick. You could have drilled into a stud, and caught a nail, or the wall is of another construction. The only thing I suggest is to make a trial hole a little further away, and see what you get.

[maitreya.kapasi]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply. It made me wonder the same that is it really a plasterboard. When i drilled other walls to hand blinds then it was very thin. However, this one is in the bathroom and also is a new build property.

Do you know how can i verify that it is a plasterboard? (Sorry, am new to the diy world)

Thanks.

[proptech]

It's very common these days for plasterboard to be used throughout, known as dry lining, although it could be that traditional plaster is used on the outside, and load bearing walls, and board used on timber constructed internal partition walls.
Try tapping the wall, does it sound hollow? Are there any visible vertical lines indicating board joints? As I suggested, try another small hole, see what you find.