Putting a shower on a claw foot tub??

Question

Okay so here's the deal. I have an add a shower thats suppose to be easy to install. So I got everything together put up but....I cant drill the proper wholes into the wall. I live in a very olod house and the walls are Im not sure. The guy gave me a drill bit that he said should have done the trick. Well its not doing it. I can drill about an inch into the wall and then it feels like Im hitting a brick wall. It wont drill in anymore. So what can or do I need to do to make this work. Help please.

Answer 1

Ok, before you go drilling through a water pipe, you better make sure that the "brick wall" that you are running into isn't a pipe . If your house is older it may have a plaster and lathe wall. Plaster is much harder and heavier than drywall of today, so it may be a little harder to drill through. My guess is you wont hit that "brick wall" if you either go a little higher or a little lower, you wont run into this problem, because based off the info in your question, it sounds like you hit either a pipe, or a steel bracket guarding a pipe.

Answer 2

Are the holes for screws? An inch deep hole might be enough to hold a screw if you use an expandable plastic anchor. Be careful drilling into a wall if you don't know what's behind it. If you hit bricks, it might be the chimney for example... or there could be a pipe or wires.

If the wall really is masonry, you can drill a deeper hole with a masonry bit. You will need to use anchors for the screws and drill the appropriate size hole for them. Drill carefully and hammer old plaster walls as little as possible so as not to break the "key" that holds the plaster surface to the lath.

Answer 3

you need to figure out what is behind the surface........if you take a nail and try hammering it and it bends you are against concrete or brick and then you will need a concrete bit for the rest of the drilling....... good luck