I need to put some blinds up- have I got the right gear? 15 January at 1:59PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 34 replies 881 views

FreeBear

stuart45 said:

Nowadays a lot of new builds are timber frame, with a masonry external skin.

And if you have an internal timber frame (or a timber lintel like I do over some of the windows), no need for wall plugs, Just use a long enough screw, job done.

TimSynths

I've had to give up sadly, ive ran out of talent. The drill would only go in 1.5cm then goes no further- could be metal.

1964 construction- I know across the top of the window its a concrete lintel and impossible. I used to have the blinds drilled into he wooded frames but ive recently had uPVC windows fitted and wanted to put the blinds back up. I'll have to wait for friends in the know to become available.

Thanks all.

MikeJXE

TimSynths said:

I've had to give up sadly, ive ran out of talent. The drill would only go in 1.5cm then goes no further- could be metal.

1964 construction- I know across the top of the window its a concrete lintel and impossible. I used to have the blinds drilled into he wooded frames but ive recently had uPVC windows fitted and wanted to put the blinds back up. I'll have to wait for friends in the know to become available.

Thanks all.

Your drill isn't powerful enough you need an SDS drill 

frugalmacdugal

Hi.

could we have a photie, what kinda weight of blinds are you putting up?

Eldi_Dos

OP, to go back to title of thread "have I got the right gear?" Make sure you are using eye protection, especially if drilling upwards into a lintel.
As other posters have said start with smaller diameter drill and work up to size, and be ready to switch from masonry to metal drill if you hit metal in lintel.

TimSynths

MikeJXE said:

TimSynths said:

I've had to give up sadly, ive ran out of talent. The drill would only go in 1.5cm then goes no further- could be metal.

1964 construction- I know across the top of the window its a concrete lintel and impossible. I used to have the blinds drilled into he wooded frames but ive recently had uPVC windows fitted and wanted to put the blinds back up. I'll have to wait for friends in the know to become available.

Thanks all.

Your drill isn't powerful enough you need an SDS drill 

I have a friend who is an electrician- I'll get him round for a curry...

MikeJXE

He's the man lol

OutdoorQueen

TimSynths said:

I've had to give up sadly, ive ran out of talent. The drill would only go in 1.5cm then goes no further- could be metal.

1964 construction- I know across the top of the window its a concrete lintel and impossible. I used to have the blinds drilled into he wooded frames but ive recently had uPVC windows fitted and wanted to put the blinds back up. I'll have to wait for friends in the know to become available.

Thanks all.

I had the same problem when fitting vertical blinds and concluded that even though I had a hammer drill it wasn’t powerful enough. I painted a batten of wood from wickes, screwed the brackets to that and then fitted that using no more nails to the recess.  Looks fine.  

stuart45

It always depends on what material you are drilling into. Masonry varies greatly, from something really soft like Thermalite blocks, to really hard like Staffordshire blue bricks, or stone like Chert, or Flint. 
Harder materials usually need an SDS drill, and really hard ones like Chert need a really powerful SDS that delivers at least 8J.

diystarter7

TimSynths said:

I've had to give up sadly, ive ran out of talent. The drill would only go in 1.5cm then goes no further- could be metal.

1964 construction- I know across the top of the window its a concrete lintel and impossible. I used to have the blinds drilled into he wooded frames but ive recently had uPVC windows fitted and wanted to put the blinds back up. I'll have to wait for friends in the know to become available.

Thanks all.

Hi

Sorry, but not jesting it is just as I suspected.

I did curtain poles for one of our kids about two years ago a solid 1930's house, boy did we struggle my drill was old and we got the best masonry bits and then a cheap new, heavy-duty hammer drill - manged all fiver bedrooms, lounge, dining rooms extensio etc.

However, we drew a line under it when it came to the blinds a few months later and we got a DIY guy -  showed him the blinds and we told him as blinds heave duty what the minimum screw size was going to be - boy did he struggle on two of the rooms
nd gave up on one as we were using 2 inch screws. I over-saw the works and told him it was ok to use a 1 and quarter inch screw. He tried to charge us a bit more money for going trhough more drill bits than he anticipated. At that point i politely educated him about what a quote means and the goodwill eg allowing him to use smaller screws in one room other wise I could have deducted x amount as per agreement.

Thanks