Plastic anchors should be used for Sheetrock application only, even though package details claim they can be used in brick or block applications; masonry does not allow the anchors to spread properly.

These anchors look like giant screws, and come as long as 46 inches. Once you've threaded these anchors through the thimble loops at the cable's ends, drive them into the ground with an impact wrench.

QA decorative window shutter on a brick wall at my house blew off in a windstorm. It would be easy to reattach it, except that the holes left in the mortar by the former nails are now too wide for ...

Bore on your marks using a hammer drill and a carbide-tip masonry bit sized to suit the plastic screw anchors. Make the hole slightly deeper than the anchor's length.

Sleeve anchors - one kind for brick and block, another for concrete - come in different lengths as well. When drilling the hole for a 1/2-inch sleeve anchor you actually drill a 1/2-inch hole.

Answer: You may be able to substitute concrete screw anchors, such as those made by Tapcon.These don't require a plastic or metal sleeve; they screw right into concrete, brick or mortar once there ...