How to mount a straight aluminum profile to a not so straight brick wall?

[OneMoreFarang]

I want to mount an aluminium profile like in the picture to a wall in my condominium. Yes, I own it, I am allowed to drill holes.

 

The profile is about 2m long and 2cm wide. I want to mount it to the wall with maybe 5 screws in about equal distance.

The wall is not 100% flat/straight, there is maybe 1cm difference so if the profile is left and right on the wall it will be 1cm away from the wall in the middle. This difference is not exactly in the middle and it might be a few places where the wall is not completely flat.

 

The profile should be mounted 100% horizontal.

I have a laser level which allows me to see if it is 100% horizontal.

 

The easy way would be to drill a couple of holes on that horizontal line, put plugs inside, and then screws, and all is fine.

But in my experience, it is almost impossible to drill holes in a wall at exactly the desired place. When drilling the holes it always goes a little, maybe 1 or 2mm to one side or up or down.

Do you know a good way to drill exactly in a wall, not even 1mm away from the desired location? How?

 

I think about first mounting a piece of wood to the wall and screw that to the wall and maybe put some little pieces of wood behind it where it is not flat on the wall. And then screw the aluminium profile on top of that wood. Because it is no problem to drill accurate holes into wood. And the wood can bend a little if the holes in the wall are not 100% correct. The aluminium basically doesn't bend. 

Any idea/suggestion? 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[Crossy]

I'd go for the wood strip on the wall, a nice piece of dead-straight hardwood would do the trick and look ok too.

 

Pack behind it where your wall is less than straight.

[VocalNeal]

[VocalNeal]

Drill holes and use screws where the extrusion touches the wall. Fill the gaps where it doesn't with grout/sealant.

 

OR contour a 2cm piece of wood to take up the 1cm      gap. https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-scribe-for-a-perfect-fit/

Secure extrusion to wall through the wood. 

[sometimewoodworker]

The best way would be to use the cabinet fitters technique of contouring the back of a wood strip to the wall, while @Crossys idea of using a piece of hardwood is partly correct, used in his suggested way it will no longer be straight if you are putting screws through it, into air, then into the wall. That will almost always either immediately or over time cause the wood to bend, you may have success if the wood is about 200mm+ square but even then a bend is possible, for the vast majority of uses the bend would be insignificant but for @OneMoreFarangs purposes it would be likely to bend his profile.

[OneMoreFarang]

20 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The best way would be to use the cabinet fitters technique of contouring the back of a wood strip to the wall, while @Crossys idea of using a piece of hardwood is partly correct, used in his suggested way it will no longer be straight if you are putting screws through it, into air, then into the wall. That will almost always either immediately or over time cause the wood to bend, you may have success if the wood is about 200mm+ square but even then a bend is possible, for the vast majority of uses the bend would be insignificant but for @OneMoreFarangs purposes it would be likely to bend his profile.

Thanks

The way I understood is to take a straight piece of wood and put it with, let's say, 5 screws on a wall.

If the wood is straight and the wall not, then there will be some screws with no gap to the wall and other screws with maybe 5mm or 10mm gap between the wood and the wall. Then fill those gaps, i.e. with little pieces of wood, and then you have a straight piece of wood on a not so straight wall.

[Crossy]

14 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Then fill those gaps, i.e. with little pieces of wood, and then you have a straight piece of wood on a not so straight wall.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant by my last sentence "Pack behind it where your wall is less than straight."

 

I would fix it at two ends, then determine where your other screws will go preferably where the wood is actually touching the wall, no packing needed then.

[Negita43]

On 4/26/2024 at 6:28 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Do you know a good way to drill exactly in a wall, not even 1mm away from the desired location? How?

If you use a percussion drill percussion drills always tend to move because of the vibration then this is what I do.

 

Frst I start without percusion and at slow speed to establish the correct location for the hole once I have a hole sufficient to allow the drill bit to be located that I then switch to percussion.

But I agree drilling breeze block or concrete is a pain (and you never know if your chosen spot has some embedded metal reinforcement behind)!

[VocalNeal]

5 minutes ago, Negita43 said:

If you use a percussion drill percussion drills always tend to move because of the vibration then this is what I do.

 

Frst I start without percusion and at slow speed to establish the correct location for the hole once I have a hole sufficient to allow the drill bit to be located that I then switch to percussion.

 

 

First I start with a centre punch to establish the correct location for the hole, then  

[Negita43]

3 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

First I start with a centre punch to establish the correct location for the hole, then  

Quite true but how many DIYers have a centre punch in their  toolkit?

[VocalNeal]

4 minutes ago, Negita43 said:

Quite true but how many DIYers have a centre punch in their  toolkit?

 

Then he should go to, say, Mr. DIY and buy one.🧐🙂

 

OR could use a masonry bit and the same hammer. 😉

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, Negita43 said:

Quite true but how many DIYers have a centre punch in their  toolkit?

I have a few center punches and a few drilling machines. But none of those tools allow an exact hole on a plastered brick wall. 

Wood, yes, metal, yes, but not a plastered brick wall. 

[Crossy]

you can get pretty accurate by starting with a small (3mm or so) masonry bit, (they don't wander as readily as bigger ones) then gradually enlarging the hole to your desired size, but it still may not be accurate enough.

 

[brianthainess]

23 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Drill holes and use screws where the extrusion touches the wall. Fill the gaps where it doesn't with grout/sealant.

Agree that is what I would do. 

[VocalNeal]

23 minutes ago, Crossy said:

you can get pretty accurate by starting with a small (3mm or so) masonry bit, (they don't wander as readily as bigger ones) then gradually enlarging the hole to your desired size, but it still may not be accurate enough.

 

 

Using the holes drilled in the metal extrusion as a template🧐

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

Using the holes drilled in the metal extrusion as a template🧐

Yes, but...

The metal is in my case aluminum, those holes could be ruined fast.

That would require to have the metal already in exactly the right place fixed on the wall...

 

Thanks for all your answers.

I will go with the aluminum on wood on wall method. At least in my case I think that is the best option. 

[sometimewoodworker]

On 4/27/2024 at 2:20 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks

The way I understood is to take a straight piece of wood and put it with, let's say, 5 screws on a wall.

If the wood is straight and the wall not, then there will be some screws with no gap to the wall and other screws with maybe 5mm or 10mm gap between the wood and the wall. Then fill those gaps, i.e. with little pieces of wood, and then you have a straight piece of wood on a not so straight wall.

That is exactly as @Crossy described and for the majority of uses it will do the job perfectly well. Unfortunately it will also bend the wood out of straight to a minute degree, 
 

The wood (or any other) packing strips will compress a bit bending the wood unless you don’t tighten the screws then there is not much point in putting them in.

 

If you shave down the back of the wood so it matches the wall shape, then screw it down, you should have a little deformation as your skill in shaping wood allows.

 

if you don’t mind that your extrusion gets slightly deformed then the simple fast way will do the job perfectly. If you need the extrusion to be perfect then spending the time to fit the wood profile will pay dividends.