Drilling in to concrete lintels?

Legacy_user

I'm not sure if there's going to be anyone here who can answer this, but I'll ask anyway.

I need to fit a curtain rail above some french doors, the opening is quite wide and I believe it has a concrete lintel above it (see picture below). Should I attempt to drill this? As you can see from the photo, I don't have the option to go above

I_have_spoken

No. Drilling the lintel will be next to impossible. But I'd check the lintel really is as large as implied by that boxing - you could put a tower-block above that.

What about hanging the curtain on chrome rings and attaching the pole to the ceiling?

System

I_have_spoken wrote: »

No. Drilling the lintel will be next to impossible.

What about hanging the curtain on chrome rings and attaching the pole to the ceiling?

Hmm, not ideal, but I guess it's an option.

Is it normal for a lintel to protrude like that? It's so wide I can't even go either side of it, or bridge it with timber.

EDIT: Sorry, to add, it's a ground floor flat in a 3 storey block...

wallbash

Thats never just a lintel.

you could put a tower-block above that.

Have you tried to tried to work out what its made of? Box section hiding ??

on the left it ends short of the wall, what is happening to the right.

sparky260500

if you get a nice new drill bit and a proper drill (not your diy specials) you will be able to drill the lintel.

firefox1956

sparky260500 wrote: »

if you get a nice new drill bit and a proper drill (not your diy specials) you will be able to drill the lintel.

Until you hit the steel bars in the lintel & b*gger your drill bit !!

Furts

firefox1956 wrote: »

Until you hit the steel bars in the lintel & b*gger your drill bit !!

And if it is pre-stressed, pre-cast concrete, it will be as hard as nails to drill. Then if the pre-stressing wires are severed the omens may not be good. Indeed, with some pre-stressed it is forbidden to drill, cut, or form any alterations.

System

I won't get another chance to look at it until Thursday now, but I'll do some knocking to try and figure out what's solid etc.

FYI, this is the outside view. Maybe it's a catnic lintel, and inside it's just all boxing concealing something else?

Furts

dieselpower1988 wrote: »

I won't get another chance to look at it until Thursday now, but I'll do some knocking to try and figure out what's solid etc.

FYI, this is the outside view. Maybe it's a catnic lintel, and inside it's just all boxing concealing something else?

A suggestion is the balcony is reinforced concrete. This is a cantilever member that has to be anchored back into the structure. A reinforced concrete beam would do this provided it is adequately anchored into the frame. This anchoring could be by the weight of the structure above, or by being physically strapped, or anchored.

Regardless, seeing the balcony, you could have a substanial concrete member above your doors and window.

cyclonebri1

Bite the bullet and drill it where you want, you should get through it but only if you have a decent sds hammer action drill.
If you do hit a rebar it often just deflects the drill a little, you can still get a fixing. If you fail all you have is a hole to fill in.

Sometimes it's best to fix a timber batten over the window and make the accurate holes in that, the timber fixing holes can go anywhere to miss the hard spots.

System

It's all solid concrete, I think it's going to be hard to drill but I'm going to give it a go.

Someone has loaned me an SDS drill so that should help make it easier.