Curtain pole in rubbish plaster

GeX

GeX

GeX

Soldato
Joined
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Location
Manchester
House was built in 1903 and the plaster isn't the best. Trying to hang some curtains in one of the back bedrooms and the pole that was up is somewhat wobbly (no curtains on it atm).

I took the wobbly bracket down, and the took the wall plug out. The plaster is quite crumbly, and when weight is applied to the bracket it levers on the bottom of the round bracket and pulls the (single, central) fixing screw out the wall. I'm quite sure once the curtains are on it, it wouldn't take much to pull it down.

I stuck a screw driver into the hole, and it goes about 60mm and hits something squashy - I wonder if whoever put it up lost a wall plug down there.

The brackets are held on by a single, central screw. One half is a thick pitch screw for gripping the wall plug and the other side is a fine pitch thread for the bracket to attach to.

Unless I replicate this screw, I can't drill in and find brick (maybe that's what the previous person did?).

I did consider something like
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Curtain-...der-Stand-Wall-Mounted-Brackets-/283369829396 but as it has a large central hole already, I'm worried that trying to drill 3 holes to mount that would result in one massive hole where all the plaster used to be.

or do I fill it with filler, smoosh a wall plug in, let it set and hope for the best?
 
Fasten a timber to the wall above the window with plugs and screws and grab adhesive along its length. Paint it to the colour of the wall and fasten the brackets to this.
 
jellybeard999 said:
Fasten a timber to the wall above the window with plugs and screws and grab adhesive along its length. Paint it to the colour of the wall and fasten the brackets to this.
Click to expand...

Imo that would look really messy.

I would either offset the mounts if room and pole are wide enough. Or fill in the bad holes and start again.
 
GeX said:
House was built in 1903 and the plaster isn't the best. Trying to hang some curtains in one of the back bedrooms and the pole that was up is somewhat wobbly (no curtains on it atm).

I took the wobbly bracket down, and the took the wall plug out. The plaster is quite crumbly, and when weight is applied to the bracket it levers on the bottom of the round bracket and pulls the (single, central) fixing screw out the wall. I'm quite sure once the curtains are on it, it wouldn't take much to pull it down.

I stuck a screw driver into the hole, and it goes about 60mm and hits something squashy - I wonder if whoever put it up lost a wall plug down there.

The brackets are held on by a single, central screw. One half is a thick pitch screw for gripping the wall plug and the other side is a fine pitch thread for the bracket to attach to.

Unless I replicate this screw, I can't drill in and find brick (maybe that's what the previous person did?).

I did consider something like
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Curtain-...der-Stand-Wall-Mounted-Brackets-/283369829396 but as it has a large central hole already, I'm worried that trying to drill 3 holes to mount that would result in one massive hole where all the plaster used to be.

or do I fill it with filler, smoosh a wall plug in, let it set and hope for the best?
Click to expand...

Any cavity in that 60mm?

I've just put a new curtain pole (this) in our lounge and that was a right saga / faff with fixings. It came with the same style mounts as the eBay ones you have linked to. However, what I did was not use the supplied fixings and...

Got some spring toggles (with the zip in fixings) from Screwfix: https://www.screwfix.com/p/timco-spring-toggles-6-x-40mm-10-pack/4787X
The bolts that came with these toggles were the same size as the central threaded bolt on the fixings, so I quickly hack-sawed the head off to turn it into a threaded rod
I put the fixings into the wall, filled and touched up around them to tidy up and could use the DIY threaded rod to screw the brackets straight into the toggle fixing
 
What is the wall made of? Plaster should be a few mm deep not 60mm.

Gluing on a baton is a bodge and will look rubbish IMO, filling the holes and making good with new fixings is a much better idea.
 
There are a lot of approaches to this depending on how the wall is made and how easy it is to make good the existing decoration.

When its the first 20 to 30mm that is poor then I often use special dry lining plugs that basically span that first part as is appropriate for their normal use bridging to the wall behind plaster board and gap. Google DryLinePro and Rigifix - the former is a special type of long threaded rawl plug and the later a two part fixing where the top part is a threaded bolt. For curtains with a screw/thread bolt this can sometimes be matched to the fitting.

Alternatively if the wall finish can be easily redecorated in patches (i.e paint which can always be colour matched) then cutting out a larger area, refilling appropriately with mortar/plaster/specialist filler as appropriate which can be re-drilled is a good option provided the rest of the wall is sound.

One question is whether the fixing is above the window and therefore could be going into something around a wooden lintel or similar hence the squashy feeling?
 
ratface said:
If you really can't drill it out for a new deeper fixing then

Make a 60mm long wooden plug that's a snug fit, add glue of choice, ct1, gripfill

Tap into the hole, fill around if required and leave 24hrs

Screw into end of the wooden plug
Click to expand...

I did ponder just filling the hole with No More Nails, and sticking a rawl plug in, letting it cure and then screwing into the plug.

#Chri5# said:
Any cavity in that 60mm?
Click to expand...

I don't know how far the previous person drilled, so I don't know - but 60mm is enough to get into the cavity.. is it?

200sols said:
What is the wall made of? Plaster should be a few mm deep not 60mm.
Click to expand...

As above, I'm not 100% what was drilled into.

Beenom said:
Is it lime plaster that's crumbling?
Click to expand...

Unsure, it's the original plaster.. would it be lime plaster ~115 years ago?

Simon42 said:
There are a lot of approaches to this depending on how the wall is made and how easy it is to make good the existing decoration.

When its the first 20 to 30mm that is poor then I often use special dry lining plugs that basically span that first part as is appropriate for their normal use bridging to the wall behind plaster board and gap. Google DryLinePro and Rigifix - the former is a special type of long threaded rawl plug and the later a two part fixing where the top part is a threaded bolt. For curtains with a screw/thread bolt this can sometimes be matched to the fitting.

Alternatively if the wall finish can be easily redecorated in patches (i.e paint which can always be colour matched) then cutting out a larger area, refilling appropriately with mortar/plaster/specialist filler as appropriate which can be re-drilled is a good option provided the rest of the wall is sound.

One question is whether the fixing is above the window and therefore could be going into something around a wooden lintel or similar hence the squashy feeling?
Click to expand...

There is no plasterboard, so it's not an issue with bridging to the wall through the depth of dot and dab adhesive. Rigifix look promising though, assuming what's at the end of the current hole is suitable for it.

I'm not keen on cutting out larger areas of the wall as it's old going to be quite similar, and I'll end up making a right mess.

The fixing is above and slightly offset from the window - so yep, could be lintel there, but I don't know what this would look like under the plaster.
 
It probably sounds like you need to go deep to get a secure fitting. You need to find out what the lintel is made from ideally. Can you see it from the outside?
 
You want to use some resin injection plugs. You’ll drill an oversize hole put in a resin plug and fill with resin. The plug will then prove a good strong anchor to screw into. My house has solid walls with not plasterboard and I’ve had to do similar from time to time.

I’m not suggesting these specific ones but similar can be found. https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-resin-plastic-sleeves-m12-x-85mm-10-pack/1214h
 
GeX said:
There is no plasterboard, so it's not an issue with bridging to the wall through the depth of dot and dab adhesive. Rigifix look promising though, assuming what's at the end of the current hole is suitable for it.
Click to expand...

What I meant was the fact these bridge the first 30 to 40mm means they skip the top of a poor surface so work on walls and not just plasterboard dot and dab. The Rigifix are very good though in the right circumstances and I've used those in various wall types with the single fix type rail fixings which can be a pain with the screw/thread combo.

Those or resin plugs as mentioned above have the advantage of staying put when removing fittings for decorating etc where as some others can come loose unscrewing the fitting.

There is lots of choice these days and sometimes its trial and error working up from least damaging first.
 
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