Is this Thermalite?

[frank1985]

Hey guys, I'm looking to hang some musical instruments up on my neighbouring partition wall but am trying to determine whether it's Thermalite or maybe breeze block? It's a very fine grain, and I can easily poke a hole through it with a screwdriver. So I'm not sure if it's one of the two aforementioned blocks, or maybe brick work with an ultra thick layer of concrete covering it. My house is a semi detached built around 1920. If I can determine what type of brick work it is I can buy the appropriate fixings (Twistfix plugs for Thermalite)

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[Deleted member 174758]

Thermalite wasn't being made 90-odd years ago, was it? But cinder block (made from power station and factory boiler waste and cement) was certainly manufactured before WWII (i.e. pre-1940). Concrete has ballast/aggregate in it but isn't self supporting in thin vertical layers, so it has to be poured or shovelled into a timber or metal form (ideally with some form of reinforcer or bonder added) and allowed to set, that means "brick work with an ultra thick layer of concrete covering it" seems an unlikely way to build a wall. Could it be you're mistaking it for a cement render over brickwork? Possibly with a thin modern coating of something like Polycell over the top to smooth out the surfaces or hide cracks? I've seen cement render used quite a bit instead of plaster in houses which have been flooded then repaired, as well as in some Victorian properties, especially "diwnstairs" (sometimes with a thin final skim of fine white plaster over the top) - as originally built. The Victorian stuff can contain tiny particles of river gravel (rounded polished pieces). Or is it possibly lime plaster, which is laid on thick and was used up until the 1950s - the undercoat layer might have been adulterated with cement

Either way if there is brick or block beneath the surface coat, then that is where your plug must go - plaster or render have almost zero compressive strength, so any form of plugs into them alone will just fall out

 

[frank1985]

I think you're right, it's cinder block. I think I'll possibly look to hang up my instruments from wooden fixtures instead. Although placement won't be ideal I won't have to worry about them giving way

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Is it not still maybe worth seeimg if you can get a single fixing into the masonry and puting a load on it?

 

[frank1985]

Is it not still maybe worth seeimg if you can get a single fixing into the masonry and puting a load on it?

I'll give it a go with one of my lighter guitars. Wouldn't want to risk it with some of the others which are about 4.5kg. I have a plasterboard wall opposite which i've hung a few instruments from using expansion anchors. Also a few wooden fixtures like the side of a cupboard and an architrave

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'll give it a go with one of my lighter guitars. Wouldn't want to risk it with some of the others which are about 4.5kg.

4.5Kg is nothing much. If you really are concerned, fix a for instance 12mm ply panel to wall, with several fixings, you can then add much more weight quite safely.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I was thinking more along the lines of a plug and screw left with a plastic bag half full of sand or bricks or books hanging off it for a week to try out the principle...