Fixings for a soft wall

[Jim]

Hi all

Came home tonight to find my 4 year old had managed to pull our front room curtains down, apparently she was just hiding behind them when the rod, fixings and all just lept from the wall - hmmm

I've had a look at the damage and no big deal to patch up the plaster etc, but the material the brackets were screwed into is very soft and crumbly. Not sure what it is but a poke with a screwdriver easily gouges it.

What's the best sort of fixing to use in this material to try and make the arrangement a little more child proof ! Had a quick look on the Screwfix site and thinking injection resin may be the way to go but is there anything better. (If resin is the way to go how do you use it, should I repair the area with plaster, drill new holes, inject and screw or do I still use rawlplugs etc)

Thanks

Jim

[George]

Longer screws ie drill right into the brickwork?...theres no other better solid fixing.

[Jim]

This may be a tad stupid but I'm not sure if there is any brickwork back there. The soft material could be what I would call breeze block but last time I handled one of those I don't remember it being this soft.

[boltmail]

Sounds like aircrete (does it look like an Aero made of grey crumbly sandy cement?) or lightweight block.

Gouge out the hole to make a cone shape (bigger further inside the block than at the face) and fill it full of something like a decent filler, whatever it is is likely to be stronger than the block material so it isn't critical. The cone shape will increase the pull- out resistance of the filler 'plug'. Then drill, rawlplug and screw.

[John Rumm]

Probably a thermal insulation "aircrete" block of some form - commonly used on newer properties for the internal leaf of a cavity wall. Only slightly more robust than a wetabix!

Longer fixings with a suitable soft block rawl plug may do it. Resin has a fairly good chance of working. Packing the rawlplug in with car body filler may also do it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

AFAICT resin IS car body filler..just slightly adapted.

Either way thats what I would do. That or bonding plaster ..

[Skipweasel]

I use foaming polyurethane glue for this sort of thing.

Fix the holes, drill new ones and then get the hole wet and dip the wallplug in PU glue and shove it in. I've never had one come out after doing that.

[Jim]

Thanks to all for replying

Got plenty of car filler in the garage, so think I'll give it a go using that

Cheers

Jim

[Stuart Noble]

Make bigger holes where the old fixings were, hoover the dust out, fill, and drill new holes. I do the filling in 2 stages. One to line the hole and get a grip on the plaster, and two to get it reasonably flush with the wall. Best to have 2" of screw thread in the wall for curtain rails. Next time she'll be that much stronger :-)

[TMC]

I would not fix the brackets to the wall at all

Fix a 2 x 1 softwood batten to the wall by any of the means suggested above

Or use the special aircrete plugs (not brilliant but better than ordinary ones) with decent length screws

Belt and braces would add some no more nails to the back of the batten

Then fix the rail to the batten

Tony

[Stuart Noble]

Always more work than it sounds by the time you've painted the batten etc. Useful where there's a lintel involved, but it can look a bit naff depending on the window frame design.

[Skipweasel]

Over the years I've removed the battens from this house 'cos they're ugly. The blinds/curtains fit straight to the wall.

[George]

This is ludicrus,if you have not got a sound firm fixing then no amount of filler will stay in place.

[Andy Hall]

Injection fixing is a very good method for this.

I had need to fix the frame for a wall mounted toilet recently to a soft block wall. Admittedly most of the weight is downwards onto the floor fixings of the frame, but there is still some force tending to pull the frame away from the wall.

Resin fixings with studs worked very well with this.

I have also used the resin with plastic wall plugs having barbs for fixing the identical problem to yours.

The important thing is to clean the holes carefully with a jet of air or a vacuum cleaner.

[George]

Im summizing these curtains are over a bay window? if so on some if not all there is no brickwork and the cavity has four or five blocks of 2x2 batens which had affixed to them wood slats like those you find on victorian ceilings. The plaster was pushed into the slats so as to get a firm grip.

Any sign of slats?

[Stuart Noble]

Is he a Greek god of some sort?

if you have not got a sound firm fixing then no amount of

As long as there's something solid somewhere in the hole, car body filler will stick to it, and you only have to wait 5 minutes to find out if it has worked.