Hanging blinds

[J]

Hi,

I was all set to hang some wooden slatted blinds in the bedroom the other day. I measured up to hang them from the top of the window recess (if that makes sense) as we already have curtains up and wanted the blinds for privacy. When I started drilling the holes, I drilled about 10mm into the plaster and hit what must be a metal strip. We live in a six year old house with uPVC glazing.

What's this metal strip for, how thick is it and is it ok to drill through it in order to fit the blinds?

Thanks in advance.

J

[EricP]

You probably hit the steel reinforcing in the window lintel. You won't get through it, you must move the holes in or out of the window recess a bit until you miss it.

Drill pilot holes with a small drill bit

[Cicero]

=============================== If you hit metal at 10mm you've probably got a 'Catnic' lintel which is a hollow steel box section. Try continuing drilling with a metal drill for about about another 4mm and if your drill then breaks through into a void it will confirm that you've got a 'Catnic'.

If this is confirmed you can attach your blind using self tappers into the steel lintel.

Cic.

[J]

"Cicero" wrote

I have tried drilling through the metal, but it seems very hard and doesn't like me trying to drill through it, even a pilot hole.

[Phil L]

That's because it's metal, have you tried a different drill bit? - there's a possibility it could be angle iron, in which case it could be 10mm thick, maybe you need some adhesive instead?

[J]

"Phil L" wrote

;)

Yeah, I tried some metal drill bits, but I'm not that optimistic about their quality. I just ordered a selection of HSS bits, so hopefully they'll do the biz and zip straight through.

In terms of adhesive. I had thought about it, but what happenes when the missus decides she doesn't want them up any more? I bet NoMoreNails leaves a right mess of the plaster when you prise the blinds down in years time? Is this so? I don't want to be doing plaster repair work after I take them down.

[Kaiser Sose]

What I did was to self tap into the uPVC/aluminium window frame. The blind's brackets normally have holes to allow you to screw vertically into the top of the window fram or horizontally into teh window frame. KS