www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi all

I wonder if any of you can assist me with a little dilemma.

I have been doing some small odd jobs for some of my partners elderly clients. Little odd jobs like putting pictures up and fitting grab rails etc.
I had a really bad day yesterday as I went to a house and found all of the walls were 'dot n dab' drylined . I was asked to re-fix a curtain tie back hook to the bay window wall... ouch theres a big hole were the hollow wall fixings had obviously overtime been fiddled with and the hole made bigger... anyway off the diy store to find a bigger fixing to plug the hole... anyway after some tinkering etc... managed to get it to stay... I suspect it will not last long. Secondly I had to re-fit a small towel rail to a hollow plasterboard wall in the bathroom... fiddled for half an hour and just could not get it to tighten up. Am going to try and find some better fixings and go back and make good.

My real question is this kind of knocked my confidence a bit ... never having come across drylined walls before.. my main experience is renovation of my own house and previous which were both Victorian solid walls.... easy! Having restored everything from sash windows to complete re-plumb of the central heating system I cant even put a fixing in a drylined wall :-(

Having spoken to a friend who is a building controller he tells me its just a schoolboy error and youll learn from it... my question to all you handymen out there is.... is it a schoolboy error or should I just give up now!!

Be good to hear how you guys deal with mistakes and issues etc...

Thanks

James..... a newbie to the handyman world!

Don not give up James, you have just had your confidence knocked a bit. It is all down to experience and you learn as you go to deal with these situations and how to spot them in the future and price accordingly. Sometimes you just get a job when the cosmos is against you and it just goes wrong from the start.

To get a good fix sometimes you have to cut a section of plasterboard out and fit a support between studs or to the substrate to screw into. A waterproof grab adhesive or epoxy glue is a good addition to your toolbox as is scraps of wood, ply and plasterboard for this purpose. I have a tub if cove adhesive that I use as instant plaster and Easifill for finishing.

If you get stuck you will always get help here.

DWD

Hi James

Here are a few videos featuring UHM himself from our Youtube channel that may point you the right way









Personally the second one is my weapon of choice where possible

I use spring toggles in plasterboard if whatever I'm fixing will hide the hole

Depending on what I'm fixing I use

Spring toggles or hallow wall anchors for heaver item or self drilling plasterboard fixings for lighter items