Curtain rail - diy novice

JimmyTheWig

iviv wrote: »

Also, I don't actually have a drill yet, but have been told that the £15 argos value wired electric drill will be enough for what I need it for, after which it will likely be back in the box for another year or so.

That will certainly be fine for fixing the curtain pole to the strip of wood. And wuold also go through a plasterboard wall. But would probably struggle with any proper job.
When you start to need a drill more often it probably won't do the job.

It's worth considering hiring a decent (e.g. SDS) drill for this job so you'll be able to drill into the lintel.

penguingirl

iviv wrote: »

I'll check when I get home, but I'm pretty certain it just gives the address of the letting agent.

You are entitled to ask and it be provided within 21 days. It's a useful thing to have in case of difficulties with the letting agent, emergency repairs etc http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/content/landlords-address

nickcc

Many builders carrying out conversions use the dot and dab method of fixing plaster board onto a solid wall, this then leaves a space between the board and the wall. If you get a hollow sound when you tap the wall this is probably what they have done. If you just drill through the board and fix wall plugs into the wall then tighten the curtain rail brackets onto the board the brackets will probably crush the plaster board. If this is the case you can buy dryline pro fixings which will solve this problem, I bought mine off Amazon.

iviv

Right, tried tapping on some walls! The walls on the external wall on the property don't sound very hollow to me, and as expected the internal partition is nice and echoey.

There's some damage around the window frames that is yet to be made good, which I've included pictures of if that helps figure out the wall construction! It certainly doesn't look like plasterboard, more like plaster straight onto brick? And the same over the window too, which can't be right.

http://i.imgur.com/uQzTsGu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rClEked.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PpYE4hX.jpg

Three pictures looking upwards at the top of the window.

And a couple of slightly better quality pictures of the sides. Sorry for the terrible quality throughout!

http://i.imgur.com/57p5m9J.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a2YEBr1.jpg

-taff

plaster over brick is normal....
if it's brick, that's good, it won'tbe too hard to drill into.

Have you got a drill by the way?

iviv

Can you really just have a brick lintel though? There has to be something there to support the brickwork. Also, I did some tapping directly over the window, and there is definitely something different over there:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bia56iz9l8juev3/video-2013-10-03-19-26-12.mp4

As for a drill, I was going to grab this one purely because as you can probably tell I'm not really a very DIY person, and can't see myself needing the drill again for a while. But still it's good to have one in case of emergency. Once I get my own house I'll look at getting a more sturdy one as that's when I'll be more likely to seriously start using it.

nickcc

Don't forget you need the bits that fit in the drill. The drill looks OK but practice first if you've never done DIY before, we all have to learn

plumb1_2

I suspect there will be a concrete lintel over the windows. Don't select the hammer option on the drill when first drill through the plaster.
If you are going to put up timber, measure you curtain brackets to make sure you fit the correct since batten, but 3x1 par is usualy ok .
Glue the batten on, then drill and fix .

JimmyTheWig

nickcc wrote: »

Don't forget you need the bits that fit in the drill.

From the pictures on Argos it looks like it comes with one drill bit.

I doubt that that drill will go through the lintel (and so I'd suggest that the OP hires a decent one for the day). What do other people think?

Clive_Woody

You can pick up a fairly cheap SDS drill from Screwfix that comes with a few drill bits already. I got one similar to this a few years ago and have been really impressed, much better for heavy drilling than my standard Bosch hammer drill.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-enb465drh-4-8kg-sds-plus-rotary-hammer-drill-230-240v/63303#

Another option to consider is tension fitting curtain poles that fit in the window recess and require no drilling.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunflex-Twist-Fit-Tension-154cm/dp/B003K2GA8Q/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

or

http://www.johnlewis.com/home-garden/diy-home-decorating/view-all-poles-tracks-accessories/cafe-tension-rods/c800004485/pg-view-all

Probably not great for heavy lined curtains but these would avoid the risk of the landlord later getting upset about holes being drilled in their walls.