Walls not strong enough to fit blinds

Giggidy

We having blinds fitted to most of the windows in our house at the moment. The lounge was fitted no problem, however the blinds guy hit a snag in our two smaller bedrooms. The wall above the windows wont hold the screws to fit the blinds, the wall is just not strong enough. He suggested getting a builder out to perhaps put a big chunk of wood into the wall or something to make it more structurally sound or possibly squirt expanding silicone into that part of the wall. He is not sure really what to suggest that will work for certain. I dont either.

Does anyone know how we can get this sorted for us to be able to fit the blinds securely. Would this be a big job, or really pricey? 🙁

ST1991

We have 2 small, square panels of wood in one of the rooms above the window to hold the curtain rail. It was there when we moved in... so just screwed the fittings into it without thinking really!

Can you do the same? It should be fairly easy to do yourself.

TheCyclingProgrammer

What does he mean the wall isn't strong enough? What is the wall made of? Paper? What fixings did he try?

I can't believe for one minute that the blinds can't be fixed with the right fixings.

Try Rawl 4All plugs.

http://www.rawlplug.co.uk/products/lightweight-fixings/plastic-expansion-plugs/4all-universal-plugs/

Giggidy

ST1991 wrote: »

We have 2 small, square panels of wood in one of the rooms above the window to hold the curtain rail. It was there when we moved in... so just screwed the fittings into it without thinking really!

Can you do the same? It should be fairly easy to do yourself.

But wouldnt we need to screw the wood to the wall and have the same issue with the wall not holding it either?

Giggidy

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

What does he mean the wall isn't strong enough? What is the wall made of? Paper? What fixings did he try?

I can't believe for one minute that the blinds can't be fixed with the right fixings.

Try Rawl 4All plugs.

http://www.rawlplug.co.uk/products/lightweight-fixings/plastic-expansion-plugs/4all-universal-plugs/

Im not sure what fixings he used but I noticed in the other bedroom the curtain pole we have up has both screws pulling out of the wall and the pole is hanging on by a thread. So it seems like wall has some sort of issue as the curtains hanging from the pole arent even that heavy. Would a fixing really be the right solution, would it be secure as the blinds and the pole it hangs from are quite heavy

samsung_laptop

Sounds like old crumbling plaster.

Giggidy

samsung_laptop wrote: »

Sounds like old crumbling plaster.

Yep where he drilled, some bits crumbled away which he filled up again. So what is this solution for that?

glentoran99

Giggidy wrote: »

Yep where he drilled, some bits crumbled away which he filled up again. So what is this solution for that?

Pollyfilla with a wall plug in it

ST1991

Can you use some really strong glue/filla-type stuff to put the wood onto the wall, and screw into that?

Sounds like you should probably get the plaster sorted is it is crumbling... Polyfilla is a good idea, and you should then be able to screw into that.

Have also seen people fix a wooden batton to the ceiling where it meets the wall (i guess into joists?) and fix a curtain pole/blinds to that.

bmthmark

I've had these issues and they are a pain, but easily fixable.
What I did was removed the crumbling bits of plaster, be careful as you want to avoid removing it all (unless you want to get it re plastered). Then you can use polyfiller to fill the gap and then finally you can then screw in to it (after dried out)

samsung_laptop

Giggidy wrote: »

Yep where he drilled, some bits crumbled away which he filled up again. So what is this solution for that?

I would say you need to knock off the old crumbling plaster to bare brick then apply a backing plaster like hardwall or bonding then a finish plaster or polyfilla. Then once dry it should be hard enough to drill.