CV-04Support and fix a loose section before you drillBefore drilling anything, find your stopcock (usually under the kitchen sink) and check it turns, and know where your consumer unit is. Cables and pipes can run almost anywhere — a detector helps but can miss cables in metal conduit, behind foil-backed plasterboard, or buried deeper than expected. Drill slowly, stop at the first sign of resistance or dust colour changing, and if there's any doubt, isolate the circuit at the consumer unit and turn off the stopcock before cutting into anything that could hold water.
To hold a loose section while adhesive cures, fix a temporary support batten into the solid material behind, not just the plasterboard skin: for solid brick or block, drill 6mm, fit a wall plug and use a 40mm screw; for plasterboard on timber studs, drive a 40mm wood screw into the centre of the stud; for plasterboard on metal studs, use a self-drilling metal-stud fixing or a toggle-type hollow-wall anchor, never a plain plug or wood screw, which strips straight through 0.5mm steel; for dot-and-dab, use a fixing long enough to reach the masonry behind, typically 60-75mm; for lath and plaster, avoid screwing in at all — prop from below with a piece of timber and an adjustable prop, as old lath fixings pull out easily. Remove the batten once fully cured and fill the holes. A metal-stud fixing is fine for this light, temporary job, but never rely on one for anything heavy or anything that pulls on the wall — that needs a noggin or a fixing through to the masonry behind.