Brick and plaster - hanging things

Is it fairly common in the UK to have an internal wall that's plaster over brick? I just tried to drill a hole for a wall anchor - to be used for a wood strip with coat hangers - and my drill bit was stopped dead cold. At first I thought, wow, this is hard wood lathe, but then my girlfriend noticed the dust was the color of brick, and i think she may be right. If it is brick, is it worthwhile (or problematic) drilling into, or should i just get a shorter anchor?

thanks

RH

Yes it's common. Just get drill bits for brick.

Yep, in many Victorian houses you'll find that every wall is brick.   Other times, and on many later houses, you'll find that some internal walls are brick (generally the load-bearing walls) while lath-and-plaster construction was used for the remaining internal walls.   

Timber stud and drywall ("plasterboard" in Brit speak) is used for internal walls on many modern houses, but you'll also find plenty of homes where the internal walls are all built with a light cement blockwork, the drywall then being stuck over the top.

A good set of masonry bits and a hammer drill are practically essential for DIY housework in Britain.   

hiya

Don't forget to use one of those wiring detectors to ensure there's no live electric cabling where you'll be drilling...

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Isn't that why most houses here have picture rails? Not just for decoration, but to hang pictures without damaging the walls?

I've yet to live in a house with picture rails and have lived in several old properties...

Maybe it was an affected thing of style, but almost all the houses I saw in Belfast had picture rails, whether they were new or old (including ours). Funny thing was hardly any used them!

Well, the lovely 'refurbishers' who did up the places I lived in probably took them out to make them look more modern...

I wish we had them here!

Hmmmm, do I see some DIY in your future??

Hmmmm, do I see some DIY in your future??

If only we owned!!

i'm too much of a wuss to put any holes in the walls. we've been in the house since march of last year & i still have bare walls. 

I always associate picture rails with pre-war houses, and especially Victorian era homes.   They fell out of favor in later years, except for specific builds or remodels which were trying to emulate the earlier style.  I'm speaking of my experiences within England -- Regional variations may be a possibility.

Don't forget to use one of those wiring detectors to ensure there's no live electric cabling where you'll be drilling...

Just to expand upon that, for some years now it's been part of the British electrical code that cables located less than 2 inches below the finished wall surface should be run in so-called "safe zones."  These are the areas of wall which extend vertically above and below, and horizontally outward from any switch, outlet, wall light, or other electrical fitting.   There are further 6-inch wide "safe" zones designated horizontally along the top edge of the wall, horizontally along the bottom, and vertically at each corner.   

So in theory, anything wired in the last 25 years or so to code should not have any cables located less than 2 inches deep at any other point on the wall. 

In practice, of course, you'll find plenty of older places wired before the "safe zone" idea was adopted, plus plenty of rewires, alterations, and extensions which have been done any old way.   It's not at all unusual to find cables buried barely an eighth of an inch below the plaster surface and running diagonally across the wall!   Good luck trying to anticipate such cable runs! 

We had to buy a hammer drill and masonry bits for our walls.  DIY stores also have wall hooks that are especially made for masonry walls - they are round and white plastic, with a hook.  You just hammer them in with a hammer (they've got some metal pins in the back that are sharp enough to be hammered directly into the wall).  They also come out pretty easily and don't leave much of a mark behind.  Depending on what you're hanging, I'd look into them....

I tried to use the masonry bits I bought when I first got here and had little luck. I'll look for the special hooks but if they don't seem appropriate I think I'll just use shallow anchors, as we're not planning to put that much weight on them.

Thanks to all for the input.

rh

You need to use the masonry drill bits with a hammer drill.  I bought one at HomeBase for about 20 quid (the cheapest one they had).  It probably wouldnt' handle any serious drilling, but it works great for drilling holes in our walls.