Unable to put up Curtain Rail due to drylining on walls

D

Dublin3124

Registered User
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85
Hi all,

I asked my brother to put up now curtain rails for me at the weekend but he was unable to put them up. He put the "finals" up (I think thats what they are called) but as soon as he rested the curtain pole on them it would not hold. The left side did but not the right. He tried drilling a few holes in and around the same area but nothing worked. He said that it was because the walls are drylined.

Would anyone know a way around this? Its my first home and I would like to put up curtains in all the rooms but he thinks thats not possible. I do have blinds up but would also like some curtains to make it more homely.

Many thanks
 
Fix a batten to the wall first, securely to the timber studs behind the plasterboard, or through to the blockwork.

Then fix brackets from your pole to the batten
 
I had a similar problem - rail fell down several times, dispoite trying ever fitting around. In the end, my more knowledgable DIY friend said the plaster would be fixed to a baton & I would have to find that & afix to the the baton.

This was done by tapping the wall to find the non hollow part & use a dowel to confirm

Unfortunately it means they are not an exact equal distance from the window, but nobody (other than me - it's only about an inch or so in the difference!!) would notice. Curtains have been back up for about 2 years & still perfect.

Probably explains why so many shelves & coat racks came down on me over the years!!

Sorry if my language is not technically correct, but hope you get the gist !!!
 
When you say "drylined" do you mean an insulated drylining sheet or batten and plasterboard. If a new house probably the former, if older then possibly the latter
 
I'm guessing you were using standard wall plugs? There are not capable of holding any significant weigth in plasterboard with a void behind it.

See this previous thread.
Leo
 
I had the same problem. My Dad put up short lengths of wood (about 10cm long by 5cm wide), secured them to the wall with 4 or 5 screws, one on each side of the window. This is probably what other posters are referring to when they say "battens"? Anyway, the curtain rail is then attached to these pieces of wood, which are painted the same colour as the wall. The pieces of wood distribute the weight of the curtains/pole over a bigger area so the wall can support them. My curtains (or in some rooms blinds) aren't that heavy but are in constant use and up over 4 years now without incident.
 
I think that seantheman's definition of battens is the correct one
 
These are battens

http://www.easyboard.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/dry_lyning1.jpg

They may not be in the right place and as such there should be timber between battens over the window for curtain rails. However due to the low standards of construction common these days the timer between battens over windows are often missing. As such you might be better doing this

http://www.juliancassell.com/2254/fitting-curtain-tracks

Screwing that to the batterns then you fit the rail anywhere on it. This example was for tracks but its the same idea. You can make it much nicer by using a thin board and painting it wall colour or white etc. I just couldn't find a better photo quickly.

Another approach is to drill all the way into the brick/block behind. But thats a lot more work especially if you don't have the right drill etc.
 
Hi all,

Delighted with all the replies, much appreciated. Looks like I will get my curtains up after all. I will print all your replies off and show them to my brother and hopefully he can put them up for me. I'm so bad at DIY.

Thanks a lot
 
The other advantage of the timber board is its a lot easier to fix than the plaster board when your 4yrs old hangs out of the curtains, like tarzan and pulls the whole lot off the wall.
 
I have dry lined all the internal walls in my house using 50mm dry lying board. To hold up curtain rails you buy dry lining screws and rawl plugs that are 100mm + in length. You drill through the dry lining and into the blockwork for 50mm approx. Pop in your rawl plugs into the holes and screw curtain rails to the wall.
 
Problem I've had with that is often the fitting for the curtain require a specific head on the screw or diameter to fit through the fitting. Tolerance being very tight.
 
Drill larger holes in the fittings to get screws to fit fittings to the wall
 
Unfortunately there isn't the space on the plate, left to drill a bigger hole. Even if you did manage it larger screws tend to have bigger heads. Which stops the fitting that goes over the plate from fitting at all.
 
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