DIY House Number Sign (And how to drill into brick)

If you follow us on Instagram (you don't? GO DO IT NOW!)  you know I've been working on DIY house numbers.   We have one little house number on our mailbox, but if it's dark out people can't see it at all.  If I'm honest, even if it's daytime guests often miss us, because they're looking on the house for a number.   No more drive-bys...I've got you covered, my friends!

The actual house number sign only took me a few minutes to make, it was figuring out how to drill into brick to hang the plaque that delayed me more than a week.  It's not that it's that hard (well actually, it is hard...get it hehe) it's just you need the right tools to actually hang anything on brick and mortar.

More on that below, but first let's get to how I made this easy house number plaque.  I purchased the numbers at Home Depot for a few bucks each.  I could have just mounted them right one of the wood pillars we have out front or even directly onto the front door, but I wanted to jazz them up a little.

I found an old picture frame that was no longer being used for anything except collecting dust.  I took the frame apart because I literally only needed the frame - not the back, the mat, or the glass.  I made sure the house numbers would fit (they could have been placed vertically or horizontally, but I went with vertically) and then I spray painted the silver frame black to match the outside of our house.

I used a small piece of scrap plywood in the garage and cut it down to size so it would fit into the frame.  It got spray painted white.

Once the plywood and the frame were dry, I positioned the house numbers and just screwed into the plywood.

I hadn't planned on it originally, but I actually ended up using another piece of scrap wood, that was smaller than the plywood, so the screws didn't stick out.  This also gave me a spot to put the hook used to hang the sign.

Then I used some super glue to attach the plywood to the frame.  Clips helped to keep it all together while the glue dried.

When it came to hanging the sign on the front of my house is where I ran into some trouble.  I knew I would need to drill into the mortar and not the brick, but I didn't realize I needed a special type of drill bit.  A regular bit won't work.  It will just spin and spin and get hot.  A nice man at Home Depot helped me find a masonary drill bit that would more easily go into mortar.  The bit cost less than $2.

You can see it has a special pointy top as opposed to the flat top of a regular drill bit.  Once I used it I was able to drill about an inch into the mortar. 

I hammered a masonary plastic wall anchor - also designed specifically for brick and mortar - to put in the hole before inserting the screw.

The screw went in easily and then it was easy peasy from there to hang my DIY house number sign.

Thanks for stopping by 2IY! If you like what you see, we'd love for you to pin it!

Get the 'Weekly Best from 2IY' Newsletter