Putting up blinds - concrete lintel

greensalad

Eldi_Dos said:

Sorry if it is a daft question but can blinds be attached to side rather than up into the lintel?

Unfortunately they've been ordered to size as recess. They could be put over the windows, but only if I ordered them that way. Didn't realise it was going to be quite this much of an issue until I had already ordered! We got the other three in eventually though. Just two more to go (32 holes to drill!)

TELLIT01

16 screws per blind?!  What weight are they?

greensalad

TELLIT01 said:

16 screws per blind?!  What weight are they?

Duh, I miscounted. 16 for the two 8 per blind (four brackets per blind). They are a few metres wide.

FreeBear

ashe said: It took me ages when putting our plantation shutters in using HSS bit. First one was easy but then rest it just span. I presumed high speed steel meant I used it at high speed.

HSS (High Speed Steel) refers to the material the bit is made from. There are charts available that give recommended speeds & feeds for different materials - HSS bits (twist drills) should only be used on metals, plastics, and occasionally wood. There is a whole bunch of papers & recommendations around drill bits depending on what materials you are drilling, and the types of coolants that should be used.

FaceHead

TELLIT01 said:

16 screws per blind?!  What weight are they?

A combined blind and chin up bar perhaps?

OP - as others have said, starting with a smaller hole and then opening it out in the way forward. Assume you are using 7mm drill bit and brown plugs. If you are hitting a rebar, that is unlucky. You can probably not use all 16 screws per blind, and perhaps consider shorter screws, and a smaller diameter to make drilling easier and less messy. 

I put up two blinds from John Lewis yesterday. Each came with four 4x30mm screws per 1.8m blind. Drilling a small number of small holes was quite straightforward.

Whilst it wouldn't take serious load it seemed more than adequate for the 5kg or so that the blinds are. 

greensalad

6mm holes, I'll see if starting smaller goes anywhere.

grumbler

In the past, I drilled holes in all sorts of concrete with a normal hammer drill, not SDS. It's just that the masonry drill bit has to be sharp and I had  a grinding wheel to sharpen them if needed. 

The only problem is only when you hit a steel rod inside, but most lintels have only one and very deep inside.

Massonry drill bits aren't all the same and have different tips. Some are designed to be blunt, not sharp, especially small size SDS ones. Poor quality sharp drill bits get blunt almost instantly.

stuart45

The position of the rebar depends on the age of the property. Modern pre-cast composite ones usually have one in the centre. Non composite have at least 2.
On older properties the larger lintels were often cast insitu, while the smaller ones were still cast on site. With these lintels the steel was placed near the bottom of the lintel.

greensalad

I've bitten the bullet and got our local handyman to come round with his SDS drill to drill them all in for me. For £30 (I hope it won't take more than an hour) should work out well. And one less project on my list!

benson1980

greensalad said:

I've bitten the bullet and got our local handyman to come round with his SDS drill to drill them all in for me. For £30 (I hope it won't take more than an hour) should work out well. And one less project on my list!

Probably a bit late now but I would have invested in a SDS. You’re half way there for a titan from Screwfix which has served me well. It is a massively useful bit of kit to have.