Drilling through Lintel

aycee

Folks,

Does anone know whether its possible to drill through Lintel? I'm having trouble drilling holes to put up curtains - i'm assuming as i can only drill about 1cm or so that Lintel support is being used around my windows. Ideally, i wouldn't want to drill through it but i'm only struggling with one side of the window. Any advice?

Cheers

AC

shammyjack

It sounds as though your lintel is a pressed steel " Catnic " type .

After drilling through the plaster change your drill bit to a high speed steel bit for drilling metal . Use a size that is just a whisker smaller than the self tapping screws you will have to use instead of the screws supplied with your fittings .

shammy

cuffie

Had exactly the same trouble this weekend!! Putting up roman blinds. We ended up using "no nails" and a small screw to grab onto what part of the plaster and lintel was there. Probably a problem with curtain poles though. I sympathise. We are having to plaster over one window recess where all the plaster cracked and came off! Good luck!

ormus

some lintels can be very hard indeed to drill. use nonails or erect a wooden batten first. make sure the edges of the batten overlap the lintel edges, then u can drill normally.
with decent size screws, you can get away with say just 3 holes.