New build - curtain baton has split

Benzanna

Hello,
I'm hoping someone can help me.

I've just moved into a new build house. I want to put up curtains. Wooden batons have already been put up by the builders.

I started putting the screw into the wood, and the top of the baton has slightly split - I made sure I wasn't too close to the top of the baton - probable about 6mm down

Any thoughts? was it the screw I used perhaps - looking at it now, the screw is slightly longer than the baton width.

I used a flat head screw as that's what the Ikea instructions say (no, screws did not come with the curtain pole)

Any ideas? Can I try again and drill a new hole? How far away from the split area should it be?

Help!

Thanks massively

Aylesbury_Duck

Do you mean "battens" - the piece of wood for you to mount the curtain pole on?

If so, you've perhaps been unlucky and hit a knot in the wood where a crack has opened up.

I'd pre-drill a hole for the screw about halfway down the depth of the batten, well away from the edge. At high speed with a sharp drill bit, you shouldn't have any problems.

Also, use screws of the correct length. Your longer screws may just end up levering the batten away from the wall when they hit the lintel behind it.

Benzanna

Thanks, I thought that would be the case with the length.

Yes - I mean battens (I've seen them spelt lots of ways online, so no idea which was correct)

According to Ikea, I should be using two screws per bracket - but if I drill halfway down there won't be enough room for 2.

spadoosh

Just pre drill the holes, itll be fine.

When you screw, the wood that the screw is replacing has to go somewhere, so it pushes the surrounding wood. When done to near the edge it will cause it to splinter. Pre drilling removes a little bit of wood and allows the screw to go in smoother and thus reducing the pressure.

Just space it so the screws are equidistant from the edge of the wood. All else fails, no nails should hold it unless you have particularly heavy curtains.

Aylesbury_Duck

It sounds like your IKEA brackets might not be compatible with the dimensions of your batten, if putting two screws in means having them close to the edge. I think you have a few options:

1. try again, using the sharp drill method I suggested. If that doesn't work:
2. fit another batten above or below the existing one to give you the height of batten you need to support your chosen curtain rail with two screws.
3. change the curtain rail to one that doesn't require a wider batten.
4. bypass the batten entirely, use a decent masonry drill and bit to fix the rail directly to the wall, using appropriate rawl plugs.

flashg67

I have to admit to putting up curtain brackets with just one screw when having the same problem. Been up for years with fairly heavy curtains on too

Ectophile

Benzanna wrote: »

Yes - I mean battens (I've seen them spelt lots of ways online, so no idea which was correct)

Batons are round. Battens are rectangular.