Fixing curtain pole track pulling from wall

Longer screws...

I've been tasked by swmbo with fixing a couple of curtain tracks that are pulling from the wall. One is a standard white curtain rail fixed in multiple points, the other is a pole with only two fixings, one at each end.

Both are pulling from a brick wall which is plastered over, and neither fixing can take a larger screw.

How can I successfully repair the holes such that I can use the same sized screws in holes which are strong enough not to pull out again?

Use longer screw and plugs that actually go into the brickwork. same guage screws, but longer.

car body filler after raking out the loose stuff. Do not use rawlplugs: the body filler is drillable and screwable. And paintable. For perfect repair leave the body filler a little below the surface then skim over.

For the pole maybe. For the conventional track, there could be a metal lintel lurking behind the plaster somewhere.

If your inner walls are white solar blocks, then you don't need to use a hammer drill, or even conventional masonary drill bits. Ordinary HSS drill bits without hammer action should give a nice clean hole.

Then use the correct type of plug for this type of block. Ordinary tapered 'rawl' plugs aren't really suitable.

Then use polyester resin that will soak in first to stabilise it

Of course you have never actually TRIED car body filler, have you. it's all handwavey armchair stuff, isnt it?

I use ordinary filler for that, works a treat. Polyfilla type stuff, not lightweight. Just needs a few days to dry out before refixing. You can either fill & redrill or push wallplugs in & let it set.

NT

Why is the screw pulling out? Is the plug also pulling out? Is the hole for the wall plug too large for the plug? Is the brick/plaster crumbling as you drill? When originally fitting were the fully into the hole with the end flush with the wall? If not you may have just been relying on the screw alone to stop any movement rather than the curtain rail fixing being clamped firmly to the wall to prevent some movement.

If the hole is marginally too large, and a clean hole with parallel sides, then another type/brand of wall plug may fit tighter in the hole and/or have thicker wall so that when the screw is inserted it grips the side of the hole a lot tighter. I've found that the red type plugs that are often supplied with the item are of very poor quality and I always replace from my stock of Fischer branded grey nylon plugs. (I also have some similar/identical ones that came from Aldi/Lidl at one time)

Again, if the hole is marginally too large then insert one or more wooden cocktail sticks down the hole before banging in the plug, trimming off excess wood from the stick afterwards. You can substitute match sticks (cocktail sticks tend to be thinner and a harder wood)

If the hole is way too large and possiblly crumbling at the plaster surface make the hole much larger, paint the inside of the hole with

Yep, unless you know what the actual construction is one solution will not suit all conditions.

My 1905 property is plaster over brick but its not a modern plaster. In places its very sandy and when drilling the edges of the hole just crumble away. It's also very thick in places (2.5cm+) so relatively a long way before hitting brick. A car body filler repair would just pull out as the weakest point would be the old plaster to repair bond.

That's our vintage too, though one rail is in a new extension.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

then use self-tappingb screws

So you havent tried it have you?

I'm a keen user, but I don't think it would have been any help in the lime/horsehair plaster in my last victorian house, unless going back deep into the stonework (on the front) or brickwork (middle and back). I also had this on lath and plaster partitions and ceilings.

As earlier poster said, the optimum solution depends on the construction and also the type of load to be supported. The soak-in polyester resin is one of the best solutions when stabilisation is needed (but not particularly cheap or easy).

Good points. Also sounds as though the fixings might not be deep enough. Curtains can need quite a lot of support (devil in the detail).

Also, it seems odd they are pulling from the wall, are the curtains particularly heavy? Is there somebody in the household who yanks them because they are sticking perhaps. This is easy to fix with some cleaning and lubrication if its a properly designed rail. Maybe you need rawl bolts, done right you can swing on those once they are in. Brian

I thought he said it was brick plastered over though, seems odd that one place would have a lintel and another would not? Brian

Just badly fitted by the previous occupants.