I'm trying to install a mantle across an old, brick fireplace. The house is 130 years old, and the fireplace is of unknown age and origin. The bricks seem to be very prone to crumbling. I sunk five masonry anchors into a cleat, and then mounted the mantle on the cleat. After a couple of minutes under about 80 or 90 lbs of load, two of the anchors had stripped, and the other three weren't looking real confidence-inspiring. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to anchor into old, crumbly brick? Perhaps it's just not possible. Perhaps the better course of action is to support the thing from the bottom. Any ideas? Greg

I have a condo in a highrise (3rd floor) in Hawaii and some of the interior walls are ugly painted cinder block :thumbdn:. I want to cover it somehow :thumbup:. Does anybody have suggestions for how to fill in and smooth over 2 small walls where there is too little clearance for drywalling? For the three larger walls where I can drywall, should I just screw the drywall to the cinderblock, or should I attach furring strips to the cinderblock before attaching the drywall? Here are some relevent points specific to my situation that should be considered: 1) insulation is irrelevant, the condo is open air 2) it's above grade, so moisture is not an issue 3) the wall is painted and probably has had many coats of paint since 1964 when the building was constructed. 4) the grooves between blocks are 1/4" deep. 5) there are two small walls (4x8) that it would be [U]impossible[/U] to drywall over because there is not enough clearance to allow it :wall:. 6) there are 3 larger walls that could be drywalled, but I want to minimize the amount of space taken up by drywalling because the rooms are small. thanks for your help!