Window Lintel issues.

[Matthew]

Hi All,

I have an issue installing some curtain pole brackets above a window at the moment and wondered if you could help. Unfortunately above each window has a cast iron Lintel buried to a depth of about 3cm behind the topcoat plaster. I didnt want to start installing wooden batons etc and just wanted to fix the brackets directly onto the wall. Will standard high speed metal drills drill through the Lintel for fixings or do i need to buy something else? (BTW I presume a number of people have come across similar problems)

Thanks, Matthew

[Stuart Noble]

You can drill through cast iron ok but, depending on the thickness, you'll probably need a new HS bit for each hole. But then what do you do? I doubt if you'll get a self tapping screw into the hole and any sort of cavity fixing requires a void behind the hole to expand. I wouldn't dismiss the batten idea just yet......

[meow2222]

You want to live life the hard way. Either glue a baton up or fix the rail to the ceiling.

NT

[Weatherlawyer]

Quite right. The lintel has perforations all over it. It's not cast iron but pressed steel. It's about bricks high IIRC, call it three and put the pole a foot above the opening.

But it might be better to put a backing board up. That way the load is shared and the brackets even.

[Stuart Noble]

A baton wouldn't be nearly big enough :-)

[meow2222]

maybe its a small window :)

NT

[Owain]

But if a baton isn't conductive to domestic harmony...

Owain

[meow2222]

When the builder looked at the job he started gesticulating wildly.

NT

[Guy King]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

[meow2222]

puzzled

NT

[Guy King]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

Simon Rattle, once conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and currently conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.