Drilling into walls in terraced homes

[Solutionssought2026]

DIY in a terrace house
I cannot drill in walls none of them. They just absolutely will not accept screws into them without crumbling away before my eyes is this normal.
Is there a solution at all, please?

Definitely worth building a few DIY skills rather than getting someone in.

Right. Unless there is something seriously wrong with your house, it’s not that the walls are crumbly. If they were the house wouldn’t be standing. You could have blown or otherwise crap plaster, but that will be the first 5 - 10mm of the wall. Think of a cake with icing. The icing is the plaster and the cake is your walls.

You don’t need a crazy big drill to go into brickwork. You’ll need a masonry bit and pretty much any drill will do it as long as it has a hammer function. If you don’t have a hammer function then this is why you won’t be getting anywhere. You need to drill in to at least the depth of the rawl plug that you are using. If you aren’t using a rawl plug and trying to screw straight into the wall then this is why it will all be going wrong. The screw won’t bite and hold on its own. It needs a plug first. They are cheap as chips. Every colour is a different size of drill bit. I’d go for either red (6mm) or brown (7mm) from memory. Then it’s a case of measure up, plug in, screw in.

If you are going into plasterboard with stud wall then there are plasterboard specific fittings. Sounds like you are going into brick though.

Oh, are they reliable? I'm scared to drill my beautiful smooth plaster for fear of cracking.

@Janesput I swear by them! I find you have to give them a firm push against the wall (and the odd hard stare!), but seriously, yes. They don't damage the walls if you change your mind either. Just pull them downwards by the little tab thing. I bought some unbranded ones as well, also great.

@twentyeightfishinthepond Oh really?? I've not thad that problem and I've got pictures up all over the house stuck with them.

My house is like this. It's like drilling sand!

My solution is that I make a small hole with a large nail. A drill is too powerful and destroys too much of the wall. I have pointed rawl plugs. I put a good amount of gorilla glue on it and hammer it in. Then I also cover the screw in gorilla glue and screw that in. It's worked for me for shelves, curtain rails and the like. I dont know I'd trust it for a heavy cupboard but for other things it works great.

@DinoLilIn fairness they were large prints but I did use the right size. And in two different rooms. Neither fell down immediately and one took 6 months. It was a lot of clearing up!

Hmm. I might give them a go for some unframed canvasses...

I’ve literally just been reading about sticking cotton wall covered in gorilla glue in as a solution. I’m not convinced at all.
I’ll give you your method ago

Make sure you get decent and correct sized wall plugs (branded), drill deep enough with decent bits, 6mm or even 8mm diameter for cabinets or shelves. Make sure you hold the drill straight and steady.
Go right through the plaster and into the block or brick and push the plugs right in after blowing out the residue
If that doesn't work you might have to resort to frame fixers or similar to get a deeper connection. They don't have as much pull out resistance but they can go 80mm+ into the bricks.

I’m running out of wall

In that case there's an excellent tutorial here I've seen, takes less than 5 minutes to resolve

@twentyeightfishinthepond I bet it made you jump!

@JanesputI use four on each picture, even though it says two for the correct weight is sufficient.

@Solutionssought2026 Sorry! Hijacking your thread. But I wonder if you could use about 20 command strips and stick up a cabinet?! 🤔

I used five of them in addition to a screw to hang something on the wall because I felt it was a bit precarious
But it’s very much a Belton braces scenario rather than relying on it on its own

It was a bloody nightmare. Lots of glass on the floor. After the second, and having to drill anyway, I resolved not to use them again.

Is the house made of sand?

We had a 1920s house that had crumbly plaster mixed with, I think, horse hair!

We used a small drill bit on a slow speed, with a hammer drill. Once we got into the brick we drilled again with a larger drill, and then again with the size we wanted to take the rawlplug. It is important to use masonary drill bits.

We had a 1920s house that had crumbly plaster mixed with, I think, horse hair!

We used a small drill bit on a slow speed, with a hammer drill. Once we got into the brick we drilled again with a larger drill, and then again with the size we wanted to take the rawlplug. It is important to use masonary drill bits, and a slow speed.