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Drilling into walls in student halls.

So, in September I will be moving into halls and starting a course in Computer Science. I will of course for the majority of my work outside of my room be using a Laptop but I’m bringing my desktop pc with me to use when I’m in my room. Only issue is, the student rooms have the tiniest space at the desk where there’s a big cabinet right above it which has JUST enough room to fit a laptop under, and therefore I won’t be able to fit my monitor in that space.
Now, I KNOW drilling into the walls is not permitted in student halls but I have to be able to get my monitor in there somehow and the best option is to put it on a wall mounted cantilever arm.
So if I were to mount this to the wall, of course when I move out at the end of the year there’s going to be holes that I’ll have to fill (which I’ve done countless times before at home and managed to make it look fine). Do you think they’ll notice and I’ll lose my deposit? I don’t think they send anyone round during the semesters to check up so I don’t think I’ll have to be worried about getting chucked out. Any advice would be great from anyone who’s been in this situation before or just any good ideas or alternative options would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

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I'm pretty sure they'll pick up on it, it will differ with different universities but they do generally tend to have room inspections (they did every half a term at mine) so unless you're able to cover it up within short notice I wouldn't risk it.
You do realise the Uni accommodation's walls take priority over your computer monitor? :biggrin:

. It's on your head but know If you are found out, you will definitely lose your deposit and potentially banned from accommodation for the following years.

Also how do you go about drilling these holes? If it's with a drill, won't that be incredibly suspicious and may get you called out very quickly. Flatmates aren't all going to be your best buddies.
Could you just rearrange your room so the desk is somewhere else and you can fit your monitor on it?
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Avatar for Pathway
Pathway
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You will have room inspections.
Just the sound of drilling will get noticed. But it that doesn't the holes will be noticed and you will lose your deposit and likely be banned from their accommodation in the future.

Typically rooms will be inspected twice yearly with only 24 hours notice required, your room can be entered without notice in the case of an emergency.

It isn't worth the risk.
No no no no no no no.

Ask for a room with a different layout. Non en-suite rooms normally have more space. Or get a smaller monitor.
Original post by MidgetFever
I'm pretty sure they'll pick up on it, it will differ with different universities but they do generally tend to have room inspections (they did every half a term at mine) so unless you're able to cover it up within short notice I wouldn't risk it.


Thanks for your feedback I’ll bear that in mind. I don’t want to have to drill holes at all, it’s so irritating that they provide so little space in that particular part of the room. I’ve seen plenty of Uni accommodations with lots of desk space, in some cases people have had dual monitors and still have adequate room to move.
Original post by PQ
No no no no no no no.

Ask for a room with a different layout. Non en-suite rooms normally have more space. Or get a smaller monitor.


Sadly there aren’t any at the Uni I’m going to, or not that I’ve seen anyway. The monitor would have to be smaller or the same size as a laptop screen then and that’s not happening, half the reason the monitor is going to be there is so I can see code much better and on a bigger screen. Squinting to read code on a laptop screen or even a fairly small monitor gives me terrible headaches 😅
Original post by Decahedron
Just the sound of drilling will get noticed. But it that doesn't the holes will be noticed and you will lose your deposit and likely be banned from their accommodation in the future.

Typically rooms will be inspected twice yearly with only 24 hours notice required, your room can be entered without notice in the case of an emergency.

It isn't worth the risk.


Noted. The walls that I’d need to drill into are plasterboard so they’d take literally seconds to do, I could probably wait until everyone was out to do it. And yes a battery operated drill. I could absolutely have it done within 24 hours (probably with not much time to spare), and I could just cover it with a poster or something bit I agree it’s probably not worth the risk. Thanks for your input.
Original post by Pathway
You will have room inspections.


None of my friend that go to the Uni have had any form of room inspection, even over the holidays. Don’t think I’ll take my chances though.
Original post by anosmianAcrimony
Could you just rearrange your room so the desk is somewhere else and you can fit your monitor on it?


Everything is fixed sadly. Well not everything but the desk is mounted to the wall and the cabinet is not movable, hence the reason for this post.
Original post by CTLeafez
You do realise the Uni accommodation's walls take priority over your computer monitor? :biggrin:

. It's on your head but know If you are found out, you will definitely lose your deposit and potentially banned from accommodation for the following years.

Also how do you go about drilling these holes? If it's with a drill, won't that be incredibly suspicious and may get you called out very quickly. Flatmates aren't all going to be your best buddies.


I’d probably go about it with an electric drill, holes won’t take long to drill into plasterboard, seconds each. I may lose my deposit yes so I’m probably not going to risk it, but we only stay in accommodation for 1st year anyway we get punted onto the street after that 😂 and yes I appreciate that the walls take priority over my monitor but I’d have thought they’d have left enough space for a monitor in the first place, I’d have thought taking a desktop to Uni would be fairly commonplace!
okay so objections from uni estates aside: You're planning to mount your monitor arm to plasterboard?!
Original post by ground_cinnamon
Noted. The walls that I’d need to drill into are plasterboard so they’d take literally seconds to do, I could probably wait until everyone was out to do it. And yes a battery operated drill. I could absolutely have it done within 24 hours (probably with not much time to spare), and I could just cover it with a poster or something bit I agree it’s probably not worth the risk. Thanks for your input.

You shouldn't put a cantilever bracket on a plasterboard wall, they are aren't very strong.
Original post by ground_cinnamon
Everything is fixed sadly. Well not everything but the desk is mounted to the wall and the cabinet is not movable, hence the reason for this post.

I recommend you get in touch with the people who run the accommodation and explain your problem - either by email or just by going to whatever front desk may exist. They'll probably be happy to help.
Original post by ground_cinnamon
Everything is fixed sadly. Well not everything but the desk is mounted to the wall and the cabinet is not movable, hence the reason for this post.

Choose a different hall - which uni has fixed desks and beds?
Original post by ground_cinnamon
Sadly there aren’t any at the Uni I’m going to, or not that I’ve seen anyway. The monitor would have to be smaller or the same size as a laptop screen then and that’s not happening, half the reason the monitor is going to be there is so I can see code much better and on a bigger screen. Squinting to read code on a laptop screen or even a fairly small monitor gives me terrible headaches 😅


How do you know for sure what sort of room you're going to have, and that the monitor won't fit? It seems a bit premature to be worrying about this.

Can you get one of those arms that clamps onto the edge of the desk instead?

Drilling holes into the wall is likely to get you into trouble and it's really not worth it - I've been in places that charge £100 if you leave a scuff on the wall or break the toilet seat, I dread to think how high the fees for replastering could be.
Even though you're renting the room for the academic year, it's not your home. It's not the accommodation's fault that you want to bring both a laptop and a PC.

You won't get permission to drill holes (keeping in mind that you can't just randomly drill into walls without scanning for cabling/piping behind it), and there will definitely be a clause in your accommodation contract that forbids you from attaching anything to the walls. You could buy a small foldable table/desk for your laptop if you're desperate, or maybe just leave your PC at home.

Most accommodation do inspections, so it'll be impossible to hide, and you will lose your deposit straight away (and potentially be kicked out of the accommodation). It's really not worth it.
You're probably not even allowed to put blu-tac on the walls as the oils leak out over time and leave a mark.

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