Hanging Curtain Pole, Hitting Metal.

pcuser

Hi Everyone.

I just tried to hang a curtain new curtain pole in my Daughters room. I marked and tried to drill the holes required but I seem to be hitting metal about 2 inches in and ruining my drill bits.


Is it normal to have metal inside the walls around the window frame.? The previous curtain pole used much shorted screws.


Im not too sure if I should use a metal drill bit and try and drill through the metal as Im not too sure what its there for. Does anyone have any suggestions?

martinr5232

Its possible your drilling into the lintle above the window they are reinforced with steel.
Could you drill a bit higher ??

jack of all

Where exactly are you drilling? If the inside reveal of the window ope you may be hitting the steel fixing straps used to fix the windows in place. If you're drilling outside the ope, at first floor level it could be the steel straps used to tie down wall plates? Another possibility may be if your external walls are brickwork your lintols may be glavanised steel- Catnic/ Steelite etc.

RST

There is no need to drill the holes that deep. 4x40 screws will be more than enough for a curtain pole.

Calahonda52

RST wrote: »

There is no need to drill the holes that deep. 4x40 screws will be more than enough for a curtain pole.

Probably some of the worst advice thus far on boards.

Without knowing a lot more, there is just no basis for such ill-considered advice

Sleeper12

RST wrote:

There is no need to drill the holes that deep. 4x40 screws will be more than enough for a curtain pole.

Curtain poles can need very long screws. The area you need to drill differs from the extra hard to drill to the wall being too soft. Quite often the builder / plasterer fills large holes around the head with bonding & this isn't strong enough to hold curtains.

There are times when you could need 6 inch screws depending on the wall.

Mellor

Sleeper12 wrote: »

There are times when you could need 6 inch screws depending on the wall.

What possible wall would need 6 inch screws?
Sure, 40mm might not be enough, but 150mm can't imagine that

martinr5232

Mellor wrote:

What possible wall would need 6 inch screws? Sure, 40mm might not be enough, but 150mm can't imagine that

50mm insulated slab.
Anytime i hang curtains i use frame fixers they are the only job with heavy curtains and small kids.

Sleeper12

Mellor wrote:

What possible wall would need 6 inch screws? Sure, 40mm might not be enough, but 150mm can't imagine that

I owned a property maintenance company for over 20 years before I sold it. We had contracts for hotels, guest houses, b&bs & regular houses & apartments.
Sometimes you need 6 inch screws cos you have 4 inches of bonding. Not often but sometimes.

Mellor

Maybe, you'd think you wouldn't need to go a full 100mm block
Personally I don't like to screwfix through internal insulation.

Sleeper12

martinr5232 wrote:

50mm insulated slab. Anytime i hang curtains i use frame fixers they are the only job with heavy curtains and small kids.

I have 100mm insulation slabs myself. 6 inches might not be long enough if I were to hit bonding after the insulation board.
You are perfectly right about heavy curtains. Black outlining on the back of ceiling to floor curtains need solid fixing

Mellor

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I owned a property maintenance company for over 20 years before I sold it. We had contracts for hotels, guest houses, b&bs & regular houses & apartments.
Sometimes you need 6 inch screws cos you have 4 inches of bonding. Not often but sometimes.

4" of bonding :eek: Was there any wall there at all.
That's very shoddy work tbh. I hope you found it like that, and it wasn't your doing

Sleeper12

Mellor wrote:

4" of bonding Was there any wall there at all. That's very shoddy work tbh. I hope you found it like that, and it wasn't your doing.

I truly pity younger people buying modern homes. Despite supposedly better building regulations and energy rated homes,they really are being sold a pup. Given me a 1950s or 60s house anyday.

mickdw

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I truly pity younger people buying modern homes. Despite supposedly better building regulations and energy rated homes,they really are being sold a pup. Given me a 1950s or 60s house anyday.

Generalisation much!
Sure there is shoddy building but there is also excellent building taking place.
I am an Civil Engineer working mostly in new housing and I fail to comprehend any situation that would need 4 inches of bonding apart from the whole issue of someone allowing that.
I did hear of a ceiling once with so much bonding on it that it landing on the floor the next morning.

Sleeper12

mickdw wrote:

Generalisation much! Sure there is shoddy building but there is also excellent building taking place. I am an Civil Engineer working mostly in new housing and I fail to comprehend any situation that would need 4 inches of bonding apart from the whole issue of someone allowing that. I did hear of a ceiling once with so much bonding on it that it landing on the floor the next morning.

I'm talking about houses with no plaster on the walls, homes with metal studs instead of wood or estates where the whole house shakes if you try to bore a hole in the outside wall of the wooden framed house. I've seen houses with the best installation and double or triple glazed Windows but the curtain blows when windy outside because there's a gap under the window board. Toilet stacks vented through the roof but the ducting falls down and now the attic smells like a sewer. I have yet to see an on-suite vented properly. A four inch extractor fan is for smells and shouldn't replace a window as it does practically nothing for condensation. The plumbers on here will tell you how bad the plumbing is. I come along after 10 years to replace a broken electric shower only to find it was never fitted correctly in the first place. Possibly with no tiles behind it. I could go on and on.
I can only talk about Dublin and yes there are some good homes built in the last 20 years but they are in the minority. Most homes built in Dublin are of a poor quality compared to homes built in the 60s

Mellor

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I'm talking about houses with no plaster on the walls, homes with metal studs instead of wood or estates where the whole house shakes if you try to bore a hole in the outside wall of the wooden framed house. I've seen houses with the best installation and double or triple glazed Windows but the curtain blows when windy outside because there's a gap under the window board. Toilet stacks vented through the roof but the ducting falls down and now the attic smells like a sewer. I have yet to see an on-suite vented properly. A four inch extractor fan is for smells and shouldn't replace a window as it does practically nothing for condensation. The plumbers on here will tell you how bad the plumbing is. I come along after 10 years to replace a broken electric shower only to find it was never fitted correctly in the first place. Possibly with no tiles behind it. I could go on and on.
I can only talk about Dublin and yes there are some good homes built in the last 20 years but they are in the minority. Most homes built in Dublin are of a poor quality compared to homes built in the 60s

There's nothing wrong with metal studs.

The rest is just example of shoddy work. If you think that didn't happen in the past you are kidding yourself.

Sleeper12

Mellor wrote:

There's nothing wrong with metal studs.

Electric showers are louder when attached to a partition with metal studs. You also have the issue of finding it harder to find grounds to hang anything on the walls.

Only having a 4 inch extractor fan in a bathroom with no window is not shoddy work its bad designing. Also bad planning and shouldn't be allowed but sadly it is

Mellor

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Electric showers are louder when attached to a partition with metal studs. You also have the issue of finding it harder to find grounds to hang anything on the walls.

An electric shower is a strange benchmark to take tbh. It's old technology, expensive to run and performance is poor. They are designed to be retrofitted to exist poorly heat systems. I'm never sure why they are are still so popular in Irish new builds.

Regardless, they shouldn't be any louder if it is installed correctly. I regularly spec and design sound proof walls for various studios. Isolated metal studs out perform timber studs.

Metal and timber studs both hard issues when hanging on the wall, and both are inferior to solid walls, for obvious reasons.

Only having a 4 inch extractor fan in a bathroom with no window is not shoddy work its bad designing. Also bad planning and shouldn't be allowed but sadly it is

That has nothing to do with planning tbh.
Commercial bathrooms all over the work function fine without windows. but will typically need more than a 5 quid fan in the ceiling. Don't assume that everything that gets built has been designed. The vast majority of dodgy work I see* is from builders who costs by building off basic planning drawings.


*majority, not all obviously.

Bonzo Delaney

Getting back on track without trying to right the wrongs of the building industry which is another thread/ forum in itself
The op never stated whether it's a solid wall which would point to RB in the lintel or an insulated slab wall which would indicate a joist or wall plate strap which a good foreman would of picked up on for future fixings
An earlier poster has already picked up on this.
A guess would be the insulated slab and wall plate strap causing the problem
A solution would be to move the curtain pole fixing 25 mm left or right. I tend to use an express nail on these depending on the distance needed will dictate the length of express nail used but drive it in until flush with the slab then insert a length of wall plug strip that's tight in the center hole then use a 5x60 or 4x60 to fix the fitting
The express nail acts as a washer to prevent the fixing diging in to the slab. It's handy for rad brackets also. Either that or a conc screw and a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe as the sleeve washer. The idea is to have the fitting solid to the block wall as over time with weight and movement the slab will crumble at that point.

Sleeper12

Mellor wrote:

An electric shower is a strange benchmark to take tbh. It's old technology, expensive to run and performance is poor. They are designed to be retrofitted to exist poorly heat systems. I'm never sure why they are are still so popular in Irish new builds.

Just to point out that electric showers are energy A rated & are very cheap to run. As for old technology the new Triton T90SR pumped electric shower is totally silent. You hear the water hitting the shower tray but not the digital motor.
Anyway we got sidetracked by the ridiculous statement by RST who suggested 40mm screws would be more than enough to hold a curtain pole. RST has since closed his account. I was pointing out that in certain circumstances you may need 6 inch screws. Blame that on bad building if you want but it's a fact of life.
Bonzo seems to have both angles covered. The problem with the diy forum here is its possible for op to be calling a bad screw gun with hammer action a drill (no offence to op). It could be screw gun with old bit hitting the window head.

PMBC

I'm guessing, without knowledge of wall construction as Bonzo etc. mentioned, its either catnic or rebar in head. First try moving down 30 mm vertically and 30 mm. left/right horizontally.
PS Hope you don't have to shorten curtains!!

pcuser

Thanks everyone for the replies, I have being quiet busy the last few days with work and a charity climb of carrantuohill.

I should have said it is a solid wall in the upstairs bedroom. Its possible thats its a lintel I am hitting so I will try and move the curtain pole higher. I have drilled 3 holes all the same height but different width and each hold was the same problem. I would get in a certain amount and then hit metal.

Il head in to town and get new drill bits and try again in a higher position and update.

martinr5232

It may be a stupid question but are you using masonry bits with a good hammer drill ??

Dont mistake a cordless drill with hammer action for a good drill it can take forever to drill a hole with one of them.

pcuser

martinr5232 wrote: »

It may be a stupid question but are you using masonry bits with a good hammer drill ??

Dont mistake a cordless drill with hammer action for a good drill it can take forever to drill a hole with one of them.

Hi Martin,

Yes im using masonry drill bits and a good corded drill, I cant remember the make of the drill bit but it was expensive enough.

pcuser

SOrry about the late update, I drilled a new hole anout 1" above the previous hole and it went straight through. No problem at all. It must have being the lentil I hit.

PMBC

YES