Rawl plug hole

bouicca21

Bear with me.  I genuinely know not what I need to do.
One of the brackets for my curtain rail is falling off the wall.  The hole for the rawl plug thingummy seems to be too big.  Can I bung a load of plaster on the hold, wait for it to dry and start all over again or should I stuff something in it - way back when my dad used to use matchsticks and slivers of wood rather than rawl plugs, would that work?  

grumbler

A recent thread - Holes too big in wall

Just plaster is, IMO, a bad idea, especially for a curtain rail.

Alter_ego

If it's plasterboard use a plasterboard type screw in plug.

tacpot12

If the existing hole is in solid brick, then plaster/poly-filler would work, with the issue that you need to wait a long time for it to dry thoroughly. A two-part wood filler would set more quickly (<30minutes). If the existing rawl-plug is a red plastic one, you could improve matters by switching to the larger brown plugs. 

I would recommend drilling the hole much deeper, so that you can get two rawl-plugs into the hole (one stacked on top of the other) and use a screw that is twice as long (in terms of thread) as the existing screw. 

If the existing hole is in dot & dabbed plasterboard with a brick wall behind it, some COREFIX fixings would be ideal - see here Best Dot and Dab Cavity Wall Fixings | Hollow Wall Fixings – Corefixed  - you can perhaps make your own if you only need one or two - pretty much any rigid tube will work. The idea of doubling up on the rawl-plugs in the brickwork as above will work, but you will need very long screws, and getting the rawl-plugs into the bricks will be harder. Another option if you have the tools, is to use a hole saw to cut a 25mm hole in the plasterboard, and use a piece of 25mm dowel as the rigid tube to stop the plasterboard being crushed. This will make it much easier to get two rawl-plugs into the hole in the brick. 

If the existing hole is in lightweight thermal block (e.g. Celcon blocks), you need a specialist fixing for these blocks - rawl-plugs don't have enough surface area for them. 

Mickey666

Depending on the exactly how ‘too large’ the hole is, I’ve had success with inserting a larger plug first followed by the one to match the screw size, eg brown plug first followed by a red or possibly yellow plug.   Might need to be hammered in.  If the hole is not too oversized but the plug rotates in the hole when screwed then cut another plug in half length-ways and push/hammer that into the other plug.  Anything to force the plug to expand enough to grip and not rotate in the hole.
Having said all that, much depends on the strength of fixing required, but the above should work for typical screw loadings.

bouicca21

Thank you.  I don’t know what dot and dab plasterboard is, but it’s a brick wall and I think it’s just ordinary plaster on top - mid 1960s building.   

AskAsk

i have found cellotape around the rawl plug helps to fill the hole 

thegentleway

I use wet n fix.

Noupoi

You could also try using joint filler compound to fill the hole.

Apjs87

Fill the hole with grip fill and while it's still wet push the plug into the hole in the exact position you want. Clear off any excess immediately and then let dry. It'll be solid then and ready to screw into. Paint over any visible areas filled. Done

Murmansk

Drill the hole deeper and use a longer screw. Put a rawlplug in the hole and tap it into the hole using a screw and hammer until it's nice and far down the hole and tightly positioned. You might then find that the large hole is covered by the bracket as you attach it.