Plugs and Fixings

[John Whitworth]

My question relates to the walls of the new 'study', which is basically the back half of the garage. Wall construction is:

- single-leaf brick - 25mm wooden framework for polyfoam boards - 55mm polyfoam boards, incl 9.5mm plasterboard.

When doing heavy duty work (like worktop battens, and 'kitchen' units, I intend to use fixings that go straight through the intermediate layers, and embed into the original brickwork. That's what I did for the internal partition wall.

But for lighter duty things, like a curtain rail, I get confused. I have a small-ish window (640mm x 850mm approx), and I want some small curtains for it. I could go straight back to the brickwork, and secure that way, but that seems like overkill. Can I get away with plugging the plasterboard with what B&Q term as 'Medium Weight' fixings? Basically oversided looking plugs?

Cheers

JW

[Bod]

Self drill plugs: Screwfix do them, item number27238-11. A pck of 50 costs £11.24p for the50mm deep ones and they contain the right size screws as well. The best ones are metal but plastic are almost as good. They also do a 35mm (pack of 50)for £10.68.

I've used them for years, even for quite heavy things. You just drill a n eight of an inch hole in the plasterboard and screw them in.

Hope this helps.

Bod .

[John Whitworth]

Thanks Bod - so basically these will bore into the plasterboard alone (and the polyfoam behind) - so no mechanical fix into the brickwork?

JW

[Java Jive]

Similar story here, all over this 80s house. I really wouldn't expect these to take significant strain at all. In time, the curtains will fall, etc.

I attached a line of coathooks directly to the plasterboard in the cupboard under the stairs, but it soon fell out. I replaced the original fastenings with long screws into rawlplugs in the brickwork, and they've been rock solid ever since.

Where I was unable to do this, with the pull-out clothes line above the bath, the plasterboard fittings are now pulling out.

Whereever possible, use l>

[Midge]

I've used Redidrivers from Screwfix and the like too. They are far better than trying to plug plasterboard, but not as strong as expanding plasterboard anchors (e.g. 38777 at Screwfix).

Whether either are suitable for curtain rail will depend on the load/type of rail. It sounds like your curtains won't be that heavy so you might get away with it - and better still if you're using traditional rail with several mounting blocks to spread the load.

I'd certainly think twice before putting up a curtain POLE with these sort of fixings though - the pole will end up further off the wall with greater leaverage on the anchor. Also, mounting points for curtain poles tend to be three screws on a small plate, and plasterboard anchors like Redidrivers placed too close together can break up the plasterboard.

Personally speaking, I'd always plug into solid material wherever I can.

Midge

[John Whitworth]

Thanks Java & Midge. It's sounding like I might as well just go back to the brickwork - especially seeing as I am going to be doing a lot of that anyway, when getting the worktop battening in. I shall probably just mount a piece of softwood onto the wall, using the long 120mm fixings that get me to the brickwork, and then mount the curtain rail on that.

Cheers

John

[Bod]

Yes, they are a great little idea.

Bod

[Bod]

One footnote though. A lot of people when they use these fixings for the first time overtighten the plug, this seriously weakens the fix. The trick is to not overtighen the plugs. Just gently screw the last bit of the plug untill the last bit of it *just* touches the plasterboard. In other words, don't put any pressure on the plug, because it'll spin round in the wall and churn the plasterboard away behind it. I've seen DIY's overtighten them, which totally weakens them. I've hung hundreds, if not thousands of radiators onto stud walls and they're all still fixed (as far as I know).

Bod

[John Whitworth]

I just bought some from B&Q. Very similar, but by Rawlplugs instead - the metal sort. I figured that it should be OK, as these curtains are going to be so light, even if I had them double-lined.

Thanks for the advice.

JW

[Bod]

You're welcome.

Bod