Fixing Hand Rail to Masonry

spiderplant0 · Post by **spiderplant0** » Wed Dec 04, 2024 6:32 pm

Hi, I want to fix a metal handrail to an outside wall made of artificial stone. I want a very secure fitting of the brackets to the wall. I tried using the wood screws provided with regular rawl plugs but that's not strong enough. Can anyone suggest stronger fixers please? The brackets have 4mm holes (see image).

I thought about very long screws and wall plugs to increase the fixer friction. (I found 'cut to length' wall plugs on Amazon).

Or shield anchor expanding bolts. But I cant find any as small as M4 (though maybe the brackets would take thicker bolts if I drilled out the holes).

Also the artificial stone is very rough. What's the best way to deal with this to get the bracket in firm contact with the stone?

: bracket.jpg (82.29 KiB) Viewed 347 times

: artificial_stone.jpg (205.64 KiB) Viewed 347 times

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Thu Dec 05, 2024 8:05 am

You could use all thread resined into place . I haven’t looked but I’m fairly certain you can get 4mm , I’ve definitely got some 6mm . With all thread you can drill a deep hole , fill with resin and push the bolt into it. Once set , which is really fast , fit your handrail brackets . Another advantage is that to overcome the irregularities you can place a nut behind the bracket to act as spacers where needed .

Argyll · Post by **Argyll** » Fri Dec 06, 2024 11:08 am

Grendel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2024 8:05 am You could use all thread resined into place . I haven’t looked but I’m fairly certain you can get 4mm , I’ve definitely got some 6mm . With all thread you can drill a deep hole , fill with resin and push the bolt into it. Once set , which is really fast , fit your handrail brackets . Another advantage is that to overcome the irregularities you can place a nut behind the bracket to act as spacers where needed .

Make sure you clean out the hole first of any dust.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Sat Dec 07, 2024 10:41 am

Yes very true . That’s probably a case of taking it for granted that it’s an obvious step for the op

Just for reference I use something similar to one of these
https://www.lsengineers.co.uk/air-blow- ... gI-RvD_BwE

spiderplant0 · Post by **spiderplant0** » Wed Feb 19, 2025 8:30 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions. In the end I used epoxy (Rawlplug R-KEM II Styrene-Free Polyester Resin) with M4 threaded rods. Found it a bit tricky to work with but the railing is now very firmly attached to the wall.

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dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Wed Feb 19, 2025 8:53 pm

Well done thanks for the update

DWD