On 2006-11-20 18:23:26 +0000, "Newshound" said:


"." wrote in message
...
John wrote:

It just strikes me that some of the replies you've received up to now are
maybe a bit OTT.

agreed.
Surely it entirely depends on how confident you are in the properties
of the bricks.

Exactly. Given that this is an old house with unknown bricks and
assuming that the OP doesn't want to rip off the plaster to look, the
first clue will be when the first large hole is drilled.


You've got about 50 kg horizontal force trying to pull the top ones
straight out. A single one inch number six into reasonable softwood
would do the job. But I've seen meaty frame fixings loosened in good
blockwork by variable forces. What's the telly worth! FWIW I think I
would either go for resin, or find a way of lengthening the vertical
base (e.g. a sheet of 18 mm ply).

Exactly again. I can't believe that there is a discussion over the
difference in cost of a few pounds when the equipment involved is
presumably of value high hundreds to low thousands.

Given those two scenarios, one should go for the fixing type that is
most likely to be successful and least likely to give under load. In
that respect, plug fixings and sleeve anchors are somewhat questionable
if the brick proves to be soft - they can just pull out. Equally,
sleeve anchors can split bricks when tightened and the tolerance with
getting the holes just right is not large. In addition, there is
really no way to inspect the result of drilling without cutting away
the plaster.

With all of that in mind, resin fixings are the obvious choice. They
are also the most expensive, but considering the consequences of the
lot coming off of the wall, this is not something that should be bodged
and skimped.