Drilling and Installing a Wall Plug (Even for Heavy Loads)

Inserting a dowel into the wall - whether it's reinforced concrete or perforated bricks - means exploiting one of the most interesting building technologies. The mechanism: you make a hole in the wall, insert a plastic thickness, put the screw that expands the Fischer and lock everything.

The Fischer grips the walls of the hole, with different methods depending on the type, and allows you to hold even high loads. But to achieve this result you must discover how to place a dowel in the wall using the techniques of building professionals. Here is a detailed guide that helps you choose tools and procedures to complete the work.

What is a Fischer and what is the dowel for

The starting point for working the right way: understanding what we're talking about. Fischer, a trade name to mean dowels, are supports made of plastic or metal that are inserted in holes made in ceiling or wall. The purpose is to give screws the right grip and safely fix furniture, accessories and objects. Even when you need to intervene on the ceiling.

They can be inserted in different materials, from concrete to drywall. There are dowels that vary depending on the needs and the weight to be supported: standard dowels are made of plastic and have a cylindrical shape that serves to accommodate the bolt.

Operation and types of dowels

We said that there are different types of Fischer for the wall. Let's focus on the standard model, which we often use to screw a screw into the wall to support, for example, a shelf or a piece of furniture. The shape of the dowel made of rigid plastic takes the shape of the bolt, except that there are veins and some fins that act as necessary elements to provide grip.

Once inserted and the screw is tightened, the dowel deforms and creates a thickness such as to guarantee a tenacious grip. Also in the face of tensions, weights and forces that pull downwards. Therefore, you can use the bolts in various ways in the wall.

This is the classic expansion dowel that can be used for a standard wall. If you need to insert a Fischer in aerated concrete, reinforced concrete, terracotta bricks or in calcium silicate, hollow concrete blocks you must use Fisher with high performance with screw already mounted. To attach loads that exceed certain weights it is advisable to use dowels with chemical anchor.

While for outdoor applications you can use Fischer made of nylon with stainless steel screws. There are specific models for drywall walls: we speak of the self-drilling dowel, specific for surfaces that don't need a pre-drill with the drill.

How to put a Fischer in the wall

Let's move to the operational phase: how to insert a dowel into a wall. First of all you must choose the Fischer suitable for your solution. For example, if you need to put a dowel in reinforced concrete you first need drill bits suitable for concrete, then you need a drill with rotary percussion grip to drill the walls (here you find a guide) harder and suitable dowels.

Specifically you need anchors to strike made of galvanized steel with expanding collar for non-cracked concrete. In drywall the process is similar: choose self-drilling models that can be placed without a drill.

Now let's focus on the classic dowel for the wall: how do we place it? First we need to drill the wall. The basic rule is the depth which must allow the Fischer to enter but not too much: let it retract a maximum of a few millimeters.

The diameter of the hole in the wall must be right, not large but not small either. And this value is always indicated on the dowel packaging. If you don't have it, you can measure it at the base and basically the diameter of the dowel should be the same as the tip: only if the material is porous is it recommended to choose a solution slightly below the dowel.

Once the hole is made, the dowel is inserted: first remove the dust to ease the process. Push the Fischer with your hands, maximum with a rubber mallet. If the dowel has excess space, a larger element is recommended, if it's too long you need to drill deeper. Don't think of putting in a dowel and then cutting it: you limit its anchoring power.