Hammered wedges secure en bloc
Bolts and rivets secured to steel, and plastic plugs ensure firm fastening in bricks and concrete. However, building blocks made of more compressible materials, such as breeze and ceramic foams, present much more of a challenge.
Hammered wedges secure en bloc
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Problem: Bolts and rivets secured to steel, and plastic plugs ensure firm fastening in bricks and concrete.
However, building blocks made of more compressible materials, such as breeze and ceramic foams, present much more of a challenge. Nails, plugs and screws suitable for other materials pull out, usually increasing the size of the hole as they do so.
Solution: Clive Nightingale of Turbo Fixings UK, a developer of a number of successful products for the building industry, has invented the ‘Nail Plug’ to provide secure fastening to ‘Thermalite’ and other aerated blocks.
The device consists of a mild steel wedge with a hole in the thick end. He says it works on a combination of compression and friction. The final shape is the result of “a lot of trials” to establish the ideal combination between the two.
Application: The company says the plug is suitable for the installation of electrical back boxes and pipe clips.
Experiments in the office of promoter, Inventorlink Products, showed that the wedge in no way causes such materials to split and, once hammered in, cannot be pulled out by hand force.
Both 50 and 75mm versions are available. Turbo Fixings also has its own one shot drilling screws, ties for fastening walls to existing structures, with and without sealing o-rings and ladder ties. TS
Inventorlink Products
