How to drill into brick wall with metal plates?

Hi,

I was planning to install a shoe rack which required drilling 4 holes into the wall. I was installing this in the laundry area of the house. I picked a position on the wall with no power points / lights / pipes directly horizontal or vertical from the holes. I thought there would be nothing in those positions since it was at the edge of the wall as well.

When I started drilling I managed to get through the surface plaster, but then the drill bit diverted to the side. It seems like I've punched through the edge of a metal plate which sits between the plaster and the brick. Just wondering what it is and if it was protecting something. Will it be present in other positions on the wall? I drilled horizontally from this position prior, and did not encounter anything. A position further up (vertical) seems to hit another metal plate, I stopped this hole on top of the metal plate.

Edge of wall with drill holeDrill hole with edge of metal plate, between brick and plaster

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EricL

Hello @Kien08

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your brick wall.

That is indeed a mystery, I can only surmise that at some point in the past metal support pieces were used on your wall, for what purpose I'm not certain. I do however suggest using a stud finder to more or less detect what might still be in your wall. You could also try using a powerful magnet and try running it along your wall to see if there are any other miscellaneous steel parts hidden in your wall. I can only suggest to keep scanning until you find an ideal spot to anchor your cabinet.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

Dave-1

Good morning @Kien08

I suspect like @EricL that you have hit a support coloum by chance, or a metal angled corner. I would probarly move 50mm to the right if possible and not worry about it. A stud finder would help map out what is were as well. Also It means the other side of that corner probarlly has the same length of metal plate (Large piece of angle Iron) So I would keep that in mind in case in future you want to mount something.

Dave

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