Perception of the hardness of brick is often at variance with reality

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:28:06 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:

In message , Andy Champ
writes
On 28/08/2012 04:23, Bill Wright wrote:
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house.

Coincidentally this weekend I was drilling a couple of holes into the
wall of my son's place. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my drill with
me. Luckily in the bottom of my toolbag was an old rawldrill set my
grandfather left me - it seemed to work just fine. (though only two
holes!)

As a just transferred 11 year old, the height of fun on a winter
mornings break was boring holes in the practical centre red brick walls
with a copper penny.

A year later it was cotton reel tanks! Anyone remember those?

regards

Oh, yes.

--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

In message , Martin
writes
On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:48:54 +0100, Peter Duncanson
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:28:06 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:

In message , Andy Champ
writes
On 28/08/2012 04:23, Bill Wright wrote:
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house.

Coincidentally this weekend I was drilling a couple of holes into the
wall of my son's place. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my drill with
me. Luckily in the bottom of my toolbag was an old rawldrill set my
grandfather left me - it seemed to work just fine. (though only two
holes!)

As a just transferred 11 year old, the height of fun on a winter
mornings break was boring holes in the practical centre red brick walls
with a copper penny.

A year later it was cotton reel tanks! Anyone remember those?

when I was about 8 or 9.



regards

Oh, yes.

and throwing red hot pennies out of the window of the metal work
workshop for little boys to pick up? This progressed to dropping
plastic bags full of water from the first floor window.

When I were a lad, plastic bags didn't really exist. We had to make do
with rubber balloons. [I suppose condoms would have worked too!]
Unfortunately, the group of school prefects on whom we chose to drop our
water bombs were not amused!
--
Ian

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house. If you were to take these
complaints at face value you would believe that most British houses were
made from bricks that were second only to diamond on the Mohs scale.
"You're going to drill right through the wall? You'll have a right job!
These bricks are very hard! Very very hard! Hardest bricks there is! Don't
ask me why they used such hard bricks!"

This belief stems from the use of non-SDS electric drills that have only a
ratchet hammer action. Such drills are very inefficient when drilling
masonry.

It is more comfortable to claim that the bricks are exceptional than to
accept that the drill, and by extension yourself, are inadequate. Who
wants to go into the house and tell the wife that his tool isn't up to the
job? Thus the myth of hard bricks persists.

Bill

Walls are made of various grades of bricks and their hardness varies: -

Engineering bricks - usually purple. Very strong [obviously] and I guess
very hard.

Facing bricks - usually smooth - more vitrified - very hard.

Common bricks - quite hard

Concrete brick - fairly hard, but not as hard as common bricks.

Breeze block - fairly soft.

Thermalite (foamed concrete) blocks - very soft.

B&Q sell anchors which you screw into the last two as normal rawl plugs etc.
tend to pull out.

The most difficult thing I have tried to drill is a cast in situ concrete
lintel in my flat. I don't know what the aggregate was, but we burnt out my
spark's professional Bosch hammer drill and only went ~10cm in 10 minutes.
Took the wires another way in the end...

In message , R. Mark Clayton
writes

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house. If you were to take these
complaints at face value you would believe that most British houses were
made from bricks that were second only to diamond on the Mohs scale.
"You're going to drill right through the wall? You'll have a right job!
These bricks are very hard! Very very hard! Hardest bricks there is! Don't
ask me why they used such hard bricks!"

This belief stems from the use of non-SDS electric drills that have only a
ratchet hammer action. Such drills are very inefficient when drilling
masonry.

It is more comfortable to claim that the bricks are exceptional than to
accept that the drill, and by extension yourself, are inadequate. Who
wants to go into the house and tell the wife that his tool isn't up to the
job? Thus the myth of hard bricks persists.

Bill

Walls are made of various grades of bricks and their hardness varies: -

Engineering bricks - usually purple. Very strong [obviously] and I guess
very hard.

Facing bricks - usually smooth - more vitrified - very hard.

Common bricks - quite hard

Concrete brick - fairly hard, but not as hard as common bricks.

Breeze block - fairly soft.

Thermalite (foamed concrete) blocks - very soft.

B&Q sell anchors which you screw into the last two as normal rawl plugs etc.
tend to pull out.

The most difficult thing I have tried to drill is a cast in situ concrete
lintel in my flat. I don't know what the aggregate was, but we burnt out my
spark's professional Bosch hammer drill and only went ~10cm in 10 minutes.
Took the wires another way in the end...

My house was built in 1954. The bricks are incredibly hard, and I've
always understood they were engineering bricks. The 'mortar' is often
even harder (essentially concrete). Drilling with an ordinary domestic
hammer drill is a Herculean task. Masonry nails, cable clips etc are
absolutely impossible to hammer in, the only way to use them is first to
painstakingly drill a hole, and insert a small Rawlplug.

In contrast, the bricks of a recent small extension are incredibly soft.
Here, masonry nails etc need Rawlplugs because the brick tends to
crumble as you knock them in, and they are not held firmly. The
consistency of mortar is not unlike the sand you make seaside
sandcastles with - and masonry nails also need careful Rawlpluging.
--
Ian

On 29/08/2012 12:31, Ian Jackson wrote:

My house was built in 1954. The bricks are incredibly hard, and I've
always understood they were engineering bricks. The 'mortar' is often

My previous place of similar vintage also had a fairly hard brick
(although a common brick, not an engineering) and render. A normal
masonry bit would not touch it. However a Bosch multimaterial bit would
do the job in a conventional hammer drill. The SDS had no trouble with
it obviously.



--
Cheers,

John.

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Martin wrote:

When I were a lad the prefects dropped the bags - around 1957-1958.

The school yob was struck down with a very large plastic bag of water,
he didn't know what hit him or why he was so wet.

Sad to relate, a boy in our 5th form dropped a full crate of school milk
out of the window of the four storey block, severely injuring the
history master, who was on playground duty.

The same boy, a week or two before, destroyed a bunch of daffodils by
eating the flowers, thus making himself ill.

On one occasion after he and two friends all received a severe caning
which made one of the others cry, he remarked, "I found that quite
stimulating."

He went on to join the RAF, where I believe he did very well.

Bill

On 29/08/2012 09:28, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , Andy Champ
writes
On 28/08/2012 04:23, Bill Wright wrote:
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house.

Coincidentally this weekend I was drilling a couple of holes into the
wall of my son's place. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my drill with
me. Luckily in the bottom of my toolbag was an old rawldrill set my
grandfather left me - it seemed to work just fine. (though only two
holes!)

As a just transferred 11 year old, the height of fun on a winter
mornings break was boring holes in the practical centre red brick walls
with a copper penny.

A year later it was cotton reel tanks! Anyone remember those?

regards


Memory Lane!

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 29/08/2012 12:31, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , R. Mark Clayton
writes

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Listen to any DIY man and he will tell you about the extraordinary
hardness of the bricks that make up his house. If you were to take these
complaints at face value you would believe that most British houses were
made from bricks that were second only to diamond on the Mohs scale.
"You're going to drill right through the wall? You'll have a right job!
These bricks are very hard! Very very hard! Hardest bricks there is!
Don't
ask me why they used such hard bricks!"

This belief stems from the use of non-SDS electric drills that have
only a
ratchet hammer action. Such drills are very inefficient when drilling
masonry.

It is more comfortable to claim that the bricks are exceptional than to
accept that the drill, and by extension yourself, are inadequate. Who
wants to go into the house and tell the wife that his tool isn't up
to the
job? Thus the myth of hard bricks persists.

Bill

Walls are made of various grades of bricks and their hardness varies: -

Engineering bricks - usually purple. Very strong [obviously] and I guess
very hard.

Facing bricks - usually smooth - more vitrified - very hard.

Common bricks - quite hard

Concrete brick - fairly hard, but not as hard as common bricks.

Breeze block - fairly soft.

Thermalite (foamed concrete) blocks - very soft.

B&Q sell anchors which you screw into the last two as normal rawl
plugs etc.
tend to pull out.

The most difficult thing I have tried to drill is a cast in situ concrete
lintel in my flat. I don't know what the aggregate was, but we burnt
out my
spark's professional Bosch hammer drill and only went ~10cm in 10
minutes.
Took the wires another way in the end...

My house was built in 1954. The bricks are incredibly hard, and I've
always understood they were engineering bricks. The 'mortar' is often
even harder (essentially concrete). Drilling with an ordinary domestic
hammer drill is a Herculean task. Masonry nails, cable clips etc are
absolutely impossible to hammer in, the only way to use them is first to
painstakingly drill a hole, and insert a small Rawlplug.

My current house is exactly like that. Obo nails bend!

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Martin wrote:
On 29 Aug 2012 15:02:32 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2012-08-29, Martin wrote:
On 29 Aug 2012 13:34:40 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2012-08-29, Ian Jackson wrote:

When I were a lad, plastic bags didn't really exist. We had to make do
with rubber balloons.
Never seen an origami water bomb?

http://www.origami-instructions.com/...bomb-base.html
A bin liner holds far more water. :-)
"When I were a lad, plastic bags didn't really exist."

They did in 1957.
Aye and if yer got hold of one you treasured it. Our family had a
plastic bag. Only a small one mind, but it were ours. It was said that
Aunty Grace in Newcastle had one, but I don't know if it were true.

Bill

On 29/08/2012 20:26, Bill Wright wrote:
Martin wrote:
On 29 Aug 2012 15:02:32 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2012-08-29, Martin wrote:
On 29 Aug 2012 13:34:40 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2012-08-29, Ian Jackson
wrote:

When I were a lad, plastic bags didn't really exist. We had to
make do with rubber balloons.
Never seen an origami water bomb?

http://www.origami-instructions.com/...bomb-base.html
A bin liner holds far more water. :-)
"When I were a lad, plastic bags didn't really exist."

They did in 1957.
Aye and if yer got hold of one you treasured it. Our family had a
plastic bag. Only a small one mind, but it were ours.

Luxury! We used to dream of plastic bag.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk