Mounting clothing rack on plaster wall
#1
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Mounting clothing rack on plaster wall
Hi there,
I am trying to mount a 48" clothing rack on an interior plaster wall. On exterior walls, I have used 3/16 X 3 toggle bolts to mount heavy stuff including basically the exact same clothing rack and it was easy.
When I drill into this interior wall to set up the hole for the toggle bolt, about 0.5 inches in I am hitting something extremely hard. I took out a 5/32 bit just to see if I could drill into it and after spinning the drill for 20-30 seconds I had made maybe a millimeter of indent in it. I tried my hammer drill with the same results.
I'm stuck and not sure where to go from here. What is the substance behind the plaster and what's the best way to mount something heavy in it (~100 lbs)?
I am trying to mount a 48" clothing rack on an interior plaster wall. On exterior walls, I have used 3/16 X 3 toggle bolts to mount heavy stuff including basically the exact same clothing rack and it was easy.
When I drill into this interior wall to set up the hole for the toggle bolt, about 0.5 inches in I am hitting something extremely hard. I took out a 5/32 bit just to see if I could drill into it and after spinning the drill for 20-30 seconds I had made maybe a millimeter of indent in it. I tried my hammer drill with the same results.
I'm stuck and not sure where to go from here. What is the substance behind the plaster and what's the best way to mount something heavy in it (~100 lbs)?
#2
When you hit something hard (like steel) in the wall, it's not very smart to try drilling into it. Often it is a protective shield (like a Simpson no nail plate) that is protecting something important behind it... water, sewer, or electrical.
So I would suggest you move over and try your hole somewhere else. Left, right, up or down. But don't blindly drill into a wall when you don't know what's inside the wall.
So I would suggest you move over and try your hole somewhere else. Left, right, up or down. But don't blindly drill into a wall when you don't know what's inside the wall.
#4
If you look at your baseboard you should be able to figure out where it was nailed (where the studs are) if you are using toggles you need to miss the studs. A magnet can also sometimes be useful to locate nails (in the studs) What I mean is don't let the drill bit go in 3" when you don't know for sure what's in there.
#5
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..... and depending on the age of your house, the studs should be on 16" or 24" centers so you could measure off of an electrical box. That doesn't always work on older houses but gives you one more tool to use.
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Thanks to you both. I was able to find the studs using a magnet and mounted one of the pieces in a stud. Unfortunately the other two pieces do not line up with studs and when I tried to drill into the wall I encountered the same solid substance from my original post. I ended up drilling 6 holes all over the wall at different heights and always hit it. I'm stumped and not sure how I can mount this thing. It doesn't seem to be metal by the way. Would be grateful for any ideas.
#7
The only thing that comes to mind is that once a looooong time ago, (before I was a carpenter) I ran into something similar in a plaster house and never did figure out what it was. But it was very hard to drill in, and wasn't metal.
Let me ask you this... can you drive a sharp screw into it? Like a drywall screw?
Let me ask you this... can you drive a sharp screw into it? Like a drywall screw?