Curtain wire problem - sounds easy but aint!

[Murmansk]

Old fashioned curtain wire - like a spring/tube with a plastic covering.Hook or eye screws into end of wire, eye or hook screws into wall.

Window has plasterboard either side. Someone's attached hook using a tiny wall plug, but it just pulls out because the hook's thread is too slim to make the plug expand and if you were to use a proper plasterboard plug it would be even worse as the hole in the plug is massive.

And of course, the curtain wire exerts a constant slight tension on the fixing.

In the end I've glued a plasterboard plug in with silicone and glued a hook into the plug too but I'm not optimistic. Any better ideas? Might need to use Araldite next!

[Andy Bennet]

We use those telescopic spring loaded tension rods that exert a force into the the two sides. No fixings required and work every time. This sort of thing:-

[Clive Arthur]

What I've done is to modify a crosshead screw by drilling a small hole in the head end and screw that all the way in to a proper plasterboard plug. Then I araldited the hook into the hole.

You can get screws with holes already in - mirror screws - which might be easier to modify, or maybe even won't need modifying.

Cheers

[Max Demian]

Interesting idea. I've had to fit net curtains to windows without curtain rods and no inclination to get a masonry drill to do it properly, but the window openings are rather too wide for this solution.

What I did was fix them with white insulating tape to the plastic window frames, secured to the nets with staples. Crude, but effective.

[Murmansk]

Hmm a couple of good ideas to think about there thanks, I'll try and persuade her to go for the Wilko rod idea as that takes less input from me!

[newshound]

Plasterboard isn't going to take the tension readily. Not helping *your* problem but for people with plaster, brick, etc. there's a special sort of wallplug made for taking nail-in cable clips. It just has a small hole in otherwise solid plastic, and the standard hooks or eyes used with curtain wire work fine. Also useful to know about for cable clips, of course.

[Rob Morley]

Cut a hole in the plasterboard with a hole saw. Cut a round plug of timber with the hole saw. Glue the round bit of timber into the plasterboard with some sticks-like-shit gap-filling adhesive. Screw the hook into the timber.

[The Natural Philosopher]

this is where i incete a blob of car body filler behind the plasterboard and screw into that...

[Chris Hogg]

Self-drill plasterboard plug each side (1); fill the hole down the middle with two or three matchsticks, tapped home with a pin hammer; screw the hook into the matchsticks. Don't put too much tension on the curtain wire.

(1)

[Steve Walker]

We have a "net" curtain - we're not exactly keen on them, but they do give some privacy from passersby. Our curtain wire has a hook on each end and an eye screwed into the frame at each side, so the tension is pulling them sideways and not directly out.

SteveW

[Andy Bennet]

Yep the Wilko one was just an example. Dunelm, Range, infact anywhere that sells nets will sell them in different styles/quality/length, including amazon. You rotate one end with respect to the other to fine tune the length and consequent outwards spring pressure. They have rubberized ends so dont slip down if you get the pressure right.

[Brian Gaff]

What curtains, merely nets or are these big curtains? I have to say with nets I fitted the eyes into the wooden window outer frame, but this works on many unpack ones as well as they are quite thick. If it has to be into the area you say, this sounds like a serious set of curtains, in which case abandon the springs and get proper runners and a rail then the load is shared. Brian

[Bill Wright]

You could make a little dint in the plasterboard for each end. Then it deffo wouldn't slip.

Bill

[fred]

We have those in a french door/window holding net curtains. I find them too prone to come undone

[Roger Hayter]

Another vote for these. I've found they work (with care, and in places they are not likely to be disturbed) for lime plaster just too soft to grip the nails direct.