I`m in a 1930s built ex-council house, and the walls upstairs are made of
some horrendously soft material (compressed ash I think) - short of using
chemical anchors as mentioned in another current thread, are there any
simple ways of getting a fixing into the cr@p my walls are made out of ?

Even the smallest of jobs like fixing socket back-boxes is damn near
impossible ! Its so soft you can almost jam a screwdriver in to the hilt
with very little effort, and i`m not sure how small the chemical anchors
come !

TIA :-}

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Colin Wilson wrote:

I`m in a 1930s built ex-council house, and the walls upstairs are made of
some horrendously soft material (compressed ash I think) - short of using
chemical anchors as mentioned in another current thread, are there any
simple ways of getting a fixing into the cr@p my walls are made out of ?

Even the smallest of jobs like fixing socket back-boxes is damn near
impossible ! Its so soft you can almost jam a screwdriver in to the hilt
with very little effort, and i`m not sure how small the chemical anchors
come !

TIA :-}

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You could try gripfil for the smaller socket box type problems but make sure
you have remove as much loose dust as poss.

In my 1925 house I have interior walls of fairly weak 3 inch cinder blocks.
Standard rawl plugs or plastic plugs are useless for heavy loads. I tend to
make my own plugs from 2" lengths of 1/2" dowels with a small central pilot
hold and a lengthwise cruciform cut for about 1.5". The idea being to get
greater load bearing from extra surface area without increased pressure which
just splits the blocks and lifts off the lime mortar render and plaster.

Bob

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message
t...

I`m in a 1930s built ex-council house, and the walls upstairs are made of
some horrendously soft material (compressed ash I think) - short of using
chemical anchors as mentioned in another current thread, are there any
simple ways of getting a fixing into the cr@p my walls are made out of ?

Even the smallest of jobs like fixing socket back-boxes is damn near
impossible ! Its so soft you can almost jam a screwdriver in to the hilt
with very little effort, and i`m not sure how small the chemical anchors
come !

TIA :-}


You can use these:

http://tinyurl.com/rz9w

Which you drill a hole just smaller than the diameter of the fixing and then
screw the anchor into the hole. These are meant for plasterboard fixing but
are great on soft thermal block and ash block like you have, as well.

The DIY Sheds have them, so grab a couple to try them out before you buy in
quantity.

I`m in a 1930s built ex-council house, and the walls upstairs are made of
some horrendously soft material (compressed ash I think)
You can use these:
http://tinyurl.com/rz9w
Which you drill a hole just smaller than the diameter of the fixing and then
screw the anchor into the hole. These are meant for plasterboard fixing but
are great on soft thermal block and ash block like you have, as well.

Sounds promising - thanks for the replies guys :-)

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