Sloppy fit wallplugs

[Zimzim]

I drilled a few holes with an 8mm SDS bit for my 8mm wall plugs as the blurb on the box suggested, and, perhaps because of the walls in this old 1890s house, or my equipment, or technique, or all 3, they came out more like 9mm+ and a sloppy fit. How does anyone else cope with this sort of thing?

I'm not really sure what these walls are, this one is solid and load bearing but out comes a mixture of black stone dust and occasional red brick. It's a right menagerie.

[Neelix]

Use a smaller diameter drill

[dewaltdisney]

It is best to drill a smaller bit size as a pilot as this helps to keep the bigger drill bit central. You say you are using an SDS and as these are more aggressive than say a combi drill driver it may have resulted in the holes being off-size. Your walls may have been constructed using some breeze blocks that can be quite hard but crumble somewhat from the percussive hammer action of the SDS. These may be factors in your experience.

DWD

[Rorschach]

I always use a 7mm drill bit. If the plug is too tight you can always use a bigger bit to open the hole or even just wiggle the drill around a bit.

[London mike 61]

If the wall plugs are still loose , I would get a couple of zip ties and put them into the wall plug then cut off the excess once you have secured your fixing. I have done this before on older houses where some of the internal walls are made of clinker block which is a very poor substrate to drill or fix into.
Unless I’m fixing into brick in which case I use a 6mm drill for a red plug but for everything else I use a 5.5mm drill for thermal blocks with a red plug.
I use a 7mm drill into brick for a brown plug and again 6.5mm for other substrates.
I mostly use 4mm thick screws for red plugs and and a larger 5 or 6mm for brown plugs.
Having said all that , if the plug is spinning in the hole you have to use cable ties to pack the hole out.

Mike

[big-all]

get a brown or red plug whole/half or quarter and knock into the centre before inserting the screw
you can also try the same to the side but more likely to move the hole centre

[toolbox]

All the above are spot on, but as a last resort (if you have drilled the hole in a finished wall and are stuck with it) these will sort you out!


https://www.wickes.co.uk/Rawlplug-Wet-n ... lsrc=aw.ds

[Bob225]

Another option is to use something like a Fischer block fixing, they tend to expand more than the traditional plugs

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fischer-duop ... pack/1820p