Curtain rails mounting

ScoobyDoo69 · 21 Jul 2015 at 12:13

Hi guys,

I'm hoping my new house will be ready soon and so have started thinking about a few things, one of them being curtain rails.

Why is it that so many houses seem to have curtain rails fitting to a piece of wood that is mounted to the wall instead of straight to the wall?

Seems like a silly question but I don't see why they would do this over going straight through the plasterboard into the brick to mount?

Thanks.

Bickaxe · 21 Jul 2015 at 13:03

Weight distribution.

Along a piece of baton it'll be spread out when people put heavy duty curtains up. A plasterboard wall with fixings won't hold up against everynight/day use. New houses are built as cheap as possible and its quicker and easier to do this than go past the cavity into the brickwork with fixings that may not be required.

darknite · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:14

I have a 3 year old build. So far curtains have been ok going straight into the plaster walls. But it does depend on the curtain. Some very heavy full length curtains the wife wanted for the patio doors needed to be mounted better, IE wooden baton. But other than that using proper fittings for plaster board, medium weight wall plugs that expand on the back are working fine. Even if the cat climbing some they are still in.

Skiddley · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:22

In older properties the walls you're attaching to are often hollow (lathe and plaster fronted), so it can provide a more consistent surface on which to mount the rail.

ScoobyDoo69 · 21 Jul 2015 at 19:43

Interesting, thanks.

As far as I'm aware all the walls are dot and dab plasterboard before the bricks. Surely the cavity between them isn't that big?

I had planned to go through the board and into the brick with decent fixtures. Would the wood baton be preferred then?