Drilling holes in an internal concrete wall for wall plugs and shelves

[FluffEars]

I'm trying to hang a shelf and this will be my first shelf. I wrote earlier posts here a few days ago. I watched YouTube videos. I bought supplies.

The drill I bought is from Amazon. It's a battery drill charged by USB. It has masonry bits and a hammer mode. That's what I am using it on.

I started earlier today. Taking measurements and marking my wall.

I then began work. However I am not making much progress. I am still working on the first hole. I have the drill bit marked for the size of the wall plug. My wall plug is 3cm long and I swear it's only going in half way. This is after about an hour of drilling. Taking a break to charge the drill again and after another 20 minutes of drilling.

This is taking forever.

Surely it shouldn't take this long.

What am I doing wrong?

Should I give up for the rest of the evening?

The idea of drilling another hole doesn't appeal to me any more. This is just awful. It's taking so long. I have an envelope taped to the wall under my hole to collect dust and I am collecting dust from the drilling.

Anyone here into DIY?

Is there any life hack that will drill a hole quickly.

I just can't any more.

OP, we lived in a house with concrete walls, ( think pre-fab) and had to buy the older version , maybe the 800w of your drill

It worked a dream and OH has used it to drill through a 3" thick concrete thingy in the garden

So, just keep at it, I'm sure it will seem easier with a bit of Welly

Thank you for the replies.

Ok I think I will try this again but this time apply some weight to the drill.

It's stormy out now where I am. I know the stormy is outside. Would it be safe to use power tools/power drill during a storm? Just in case there's lightening and the power goes out.

I would like to complete my mission of putting up a shelf and not spend any more time or weekends doing this.

I work hard during the week and I am just not going to have any more time to dedicate to any of this.

Today is the day to get this done.

@FluffEars you’ll manage this no bother once you put a bit of weight behind it (ok maybe a bit more than a bit!) and you’ll have a great sense of achievement when you’ve done it. It’ll never be as difficult again! No one is born just knowing this stuff

Yeah...starting to think this might be a wind up. Does anyone really wonder if its safe to use tools in the house because its stormy outside? Two hours trying to drill a hole? If this is for real then get someone in, it's getting silly.

LightSpeeds · 13/10/2024 18:29

I use a hammer drill for drilling into my walls (plus you need a masonry bit).

I was going to suggest that, along with a mains drill. SDS drills are ideal for concrete, if you can borrow one. I borrowed one from a friend, as the back yard concrete was in a terrible state, not laid flat and I had to remove a section and flatten underneath, before putting fresh concrete on top.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/sds-drills/cat830818

The original drill is meant to be USB charged, yet the picture is of a 12 volt drill.

I have my first hole done now. I'm happy with it so far. Thank you for all the replies yesterday and even last week. I just wasmt apply pressure to my drill.

I wasn't looking forward to go back into my mission today but I did it earlier and it didn't take long at all. I was doing it in little time bursts and all in all maybe about 10 minutes of work with taking breaks.

That's only just one hole though. Now I need to do the other hole and hopefully they will align.

My wrists are sore now too so I need to take a break for a while.

Hopefully I will get on well with the rest of my project.

Thank you.

remeasure to the next hole before your drill to be certain they definately still align with each other/the shelf unit! Do you have a spirit level?

Yes I have a spirit level. Thank you. I will remeasure

I’m glad you got there OP.

I hope I’m not overstepping here, but my dad taught me a lot of DIY stuff, but maybe you never had this. There’s a YouTube channel called Dad How Do I, and he teaches a lot of handy skills. He has a few on drilling and others like changing a car battery, filters etc.

Update,

I drilled the second hole and that was an absolute breeze. Took about 10 minutes approx. I was happy with it.

When I went to hang the shelf, the brackets on the shelf did not align unfortunately. I took measurements and I measured again and again.

I was disappointed. All is not lost. I still have the screws in the wall and I have S hooks hanging from them with bags hanging up.

I am very disappointed about my shelves.

Not sure if I should try again another day.

I am very disappointed about my shelves.
Not sure if I should try again another day.

Did you mark the drilling points carefully? I always measure the distance between the mid points of the screw holes twice and write it down.

Then I use a pencil to mark a small cross on the wall. If your spirit level has a measure on it, put that up to the cross and use it to measure the next point and mark a dot. If not, get someone to help and use a tape measure, above the level.

It can also be very useful to use a hammer and nail to make a little starter hole for drilling, just tap it enough to make a small hole. It's worth spending a bit of time on.

Why don't you get a handyman or woman in to do it.
Then you can observe the technique.
And or tidy up a bit. Make more space.
You seem to be going to a lot of trouble and stressing yourself for no good reason.
Get someone in.