Introduction: Wall Drilling Made Easy....and Clean

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About: Woodsman and field tutor on a week day. Life long inventor, designer, engineer for the rest of the time. From items that make life easier to items with no reason to be....other than the idea popped into my hea…

As usual a bit of background, my ageing parents asked me to put an extension lead with a switch at waist level on a wall so that they could turn off the power to everything more easily when they were heading for bed.

We all know how to drill a couple of holes to hang something up right? But how often have you drilled the holes and found the item doesn't hang straight or won't go onto both screw heads and, of course, there are small piles of fine brick dust on the skirting board and carpet that are difficult to get out completely.

What follows is a nice easy method to get the job done easily and with no mess.

Step 1: Preparation, Get It All Together

So to hang up an extension socket you will need:

  • Pistol drill, hammer type if available
  • Matched screws and rawplugs (ensure heads of screws will fit in the recesses on the back of the socket block)
  • Masonry drill to suit the rawplugs
  • Envelope
  • Masking tape
  • Pen or pencil
  • Spirit level

Step 2: Preparation, Marking Centres

To get the hole centre distance correct you will need to open the flap of the envelope and stick a piece of masking tape overlapping the edge of the flap by half the width of the tape, the open side of the envelope to be facing you. Now attach the masking tape to the back of the extension socket so that you can see half the hanging holes through the tape, try to get the edge of the envelope exactly half way across both holes. use the pen or pencil to mark the center line of the holes and the edge of the envelope as a cross.

Before you head off to do the work drop the screws and rawplugs into the envelope to keep them together.

Step 3: Hanging the Socket.

Once you get to the job site remove the envelope and its attached tape from the wall socket and empty out the screws and rawplugs.

Stick the masking tape to the wall where you want the socket, use the spirit level across the marked centres to get it level. ( I didn't need to do this as there was a nice dado strip that I could use as a datum).

Ensuring that you hit the center crosses that you marked on the tape, drill for your rawplugs, all the dust will fall neatly into the envelope for later disposal.

Once holes are finished insert the rawplugs, wind in the screws and hang up the socket block.

Job done! Socket straight, hung on both screws without any faffing about and no mess to clear up.