Attaching to Concrete Walls

You have two choices - nails or screws. You can buy concrete nails anywhere, and they work pretty well for something like hanging a picture. For heavier items, like my coffee grinder, you need screws. Here's how to put screws into a concrete wall.

The complete concrete wall attachment kit - drill, concrete bit, screw, toothpicks, hammer, and concrete nail.

I think I paid 10 RMB, about a buck fifty, for my hammer. You will also need a drill and a concrete bit. Both are very inexpensive in China. I think I paid less than ten dollars for my drill, and a concrete bit is a couple of bucks at most. You also need toothpicks. You can buy plastic plugs for screws, but then you will have to take care to make the hole the exact right size. Much better and easier to use toothpicks. Just drill the hole, stick in toothpicks and break them off at the surface until the hole is full of wood. Pound in the last toothpick with your hammer, and then screw into this wood plug you have created. This seems to hold pretty tight, but the author accepts no responsibility for shelves that fall off your wall.


These screws get wiggled daily. They're holding just fine. But maybe it's time to clean my grout? Yuck.		Drilling a hole through ceramic tile is amazingly easy with the right kind of bit. You can see the toothpicks behind this dishrack.		A lot of weight we don't want to see come crashing down. Nails work.