RD-08Fix the brackets back to the wall - drill and cut safelyCables and pipes can run almost anywhere, not just in the usual safe zones, so use a detector before drilling and still treat every hole as if something could be there. Find your stopcock, usually under the kitchen sink, and check it turns; if there's any doubt, isolate the electrics at the consumer unit and shut off the water before you drill. Into solid brick or block, drill an 8mm hole about 40mm deep and fit a matching wall plug with a 50mm screw. Into a timber stud, drive a 50mm wood screw straight into its centre, no plug needed; into a metal stud, use a self-drilling metal-stud fixing or a rated toggle-type hollow-wall anchor, never a plain plug or wood screw, which strips straight through 0.5mm steel. Into plasterboard between studs, or through dot-and-dab into the masonry behind, use a hollow-wall toggle fixing rated for the radiator's weight, or for dot-and-dab a 60-75mm fixing long enough to reach the solid wall. On lath and plaster, fix into a joist or stud behind it if you can find one, or use a rated plasterboard toggle fixing, since the laths alone won't hold a radiator bracket.