I’m fitting a massive headboard for our new Ikea bed to the bedroom wall, it’s the one in the picture below:

Basically there are two keyhole shaped metal brackets on each end at the back and the idea is you insert two screws into the wall and then hang the whole thing off the two screws.

All seems simple enough but it’s quite heavy (32kg) so I’m wondering what type and size of screw I should use? The wall is a load-bearing wall on our 70’s build flat so I’m guessing it’s made of bricks or concrete. It certainly doesn’t sound hollow.

I’m terrible at this stuff and slightly worried that if it falls onto my face in the middle of the night it’s gonna really hurt. There’s nothing in the instructions as I guess it’ll be different for everyone, depending on where you live.

If it’s a load bearing wall, you ought to go through the plasterboard and a good way into the bricks.

Can you beg/borrow/steal an SDS drill? Mark your holes – use something sharp, eg. a posi screwdriver to start your holes in the plasterboard, then in with a 7mm bit – depending on the thickness of plasterboard you have to go through, I’d say 75-90mm x 5mm screws should do it. Use brown wall plugs. It helps to start your holes first as your drill bit will often wander at the start of drilling.

EDIT: Oh, once you’ve drilled, tap the wall-plug in till flush with wall surface, then tap screw in until it has pushed the wall plug home (don’t whack it), then drive the screw home all the way.

as above but check for any cable or pipe runs sunk into wall.

Cheers DD, that all sounds good! Yeah I’m borrowing my mates drill on Tuesday so will procure the relevant screws and plugs after work tomorrow hopefully.

Thanks for the advice, I knew I could trust this place.

as above but check for any cable or pipe runs sunk into wall.

How would I do this?

Doubt you’ll need an SDS drill
Screws 120mm No10 and double up on the raw plugs IE two raw plugs per one hole depending
size of raw plug.
Tip To start your hole, offer up the drill bit to the marked hole and tap the back of the drill
with your hand and then you have made an indentation and be able to drill the hole without
the drill wandering

I’ve been drilling into walls for years and never once hit a pipe or electrical cable*, by following a bit of common sense. Check where radiators are. Never drill directly above or below an electrical socket or light-switch, those kinds of things…

However, if you’re really worried that you might, then google “wall detector”. I think you can find fairly simple ones these days for not much money. Always something handy to have.

*I am fully aware that I will this week now I’ve said that. 🙂

Fischer 8mm 100mm hammer hits – holding up the world in my garage- i guarantee its muchmore weight than that headboard even if two elephants sat on the edges.

Just do what DD said and you won’t go wrong. You won’t need a big drill, cordless will do fine for two holes

Deadly, a 60’s flat I once had the misfortune of renting had some quirks, such as the ring main running diagonally down from a high socket in the kitchen for the fridge to a normal height socket in the living room, the stud wall must have been built afterwards.

Made putting in a corner shelf quite exciting, and I never found the TC tip of the drill, it blew clean out!

OP just borrow a wiring and metal detector, preferably one that detects electricity too, not just metal.

Fair comment oldnick. The OP should probably check if he can borrow one if he’s an inexperienced as he claims.

At my house you will need nothing more than a matchstick to get through the “wattle and daub” plaster but when you hit the bricks it will laugh at any hammer drill unless its sds time!

So that would say your sds bit is of better quality than your regular bit then.

Considering what sds actually is.

Anyway – have you notified building control 🙂

In respect of sds being percussion as opposed to hammer? And yes you must notify building control if its a load bearing wall 😉

rawlplug

It seems a lot of people think “SDS” = “Hammer Drill”

It doesn’t 😉

SDS refers to the type of chuck.

how ever the chuck is found generally on drills that are more powerful and hit the wall more times per second that would kill a normal chuck.

each to their own but to suggest someone gets an SDS drill for 2 holes in brick is a bit obsurd – perhaps if it was granite or the like.

Of course it’s not absurd to suggest the best way of doing the job.

Technically SDS does refer to the type of chuck but is commonly used to refer to the whole system, ie better drill, spiral bits, click in chuck etc. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I wasn’t suggesting he “get” an SDS drill just for four holes, but borrow one if a mate has one. Give the choice when drilling into solid walls, despite having a suitable cordless hammer drill/driver, I’ll pull out my plug in £100 bosch SDS drill and bits. Why? I’ll get a nice clean 7mm hole all the way through It’ll be easier to hold the drill square to the wall, which is important in this case as the OP needs to hand thirty odd kilos off the hooks. Also, we don’t know the OP’s wall construction, only that it’s load bearing.

Will a regular masonry bit and hammer drill do it? Maybe? Will a drill with an SDS chuck, and 7mm bit do it better? Yes. Is it wort buying one for this job? Probably not.

I’ve been drilling into walls for years and never once hit a pipe or electrical cable*, by following a bit of common sense. Check where radiators are. Never drill directly above or below an electrical socket or light-switch, those kinds of things…

but i dio the same and have drilled a cable, that was run diagonally accross a wall, and saw an electrician drill a stud wall, after checking with his detector, straight through a water main made from pdfe, blue plastic, then had a customer drill through his skirting board,and into the radiiator pipe hiden behind it, he didnt believe me the pipe went behind it, he thought he knew better, then there was the carpet fiter who drilled for the new threshold strip and went straight through the underfloor heating electric cable, thankfully it was off,but when it clicked in that night huge bang.Then there was a customer who was having sky installed, asked the sky man to borrow his long drill bit as i didnt have one,while we had a cup of tea, the customer drilled from outside to inside wall, and straight into the back of his radiator,

Can you pick me 6 numbers between 1 and 49 for this weeks lottery seeing as you have so much luck.