drill into steel RSJ to hold blinds up?

Crimsonforce

bit of a dilemma

I wanted to hang 4 x 1.5 meter blinds
At the back of the house their is a steel RSJ across spanning the entire width, just above a 6 meter sliding door. I have 4 blinds to be hung over the door, which are quite heavy.

However there is no wood over the blinds to drill into to hold the blinds up , plaster board is at its weakest point and they will def fall down if I did that,

I never thought of it at the time and the only thing above is the steel RSJ

I can only see two options

A:Drill into the steel RSJ with a 5mm drill bit and use tapper screws

B: Cut the ceiling down , screw wood batton onto the steel RSJ and re plaster and drill into the wood, obviously not what i want to do and very expensive.

anyone got an ideas?

Thanks

see enclosed image

listermint

Could fix a timber button to the ceiling with gunoprene or similar heavy set adhesive. Then fix to that.

Crimsonforce

that wouldn't work as it would pull the ceiling down.

where the steel RSJ spans across the plasterboard is at its weakest point, as it is not into anything.

Possibly putting a piece for wood along the entire span and drilling up to the steel could possibly work..Im just not too sure

Melodeon

Unless your RSJ is a monster, the right size fine threaded Tec Screw could be made to form some sort of solution:
http://www.fixfactory.ie/products/super-heavy-duty-self-drilling-screws-tek-7

Use a masonry or regular steel bit to pilot a hole through the plasterboard and then have at it with the Tec Screw.

listermint

Crimsonforce wrote: »

that wouldn't work as it would pull the ceiling down.

where the steel RSJ spans across the plasterboard is at its weakest point, as it is not into anything.

Possibly putting a piece for wood along the entire span and drilling up to the steel could possibly work..Im just not too sure

Hmm okay well that's a bad install if it wasn't fixed to the rsj.

dev100

Melodeon wrote:

Use a masonry or regular steel bit to pilot a hole through the plasterboard and then have at it with the Tec Screw.

Don't use a masonry bit it's not designed for use on steel .

listermint

Cut the plasterboard back and adhesive a board direct to the rsj.

Or drill it. Which will be tough

Melodeon

dev100 wrote: »

Don't use a masonry bit it's not designed for use on steel .

I'm only talking about drilling the initial hole through the plasterboard, the Tec Screw will look after the steel RSJ.

The Tec Screw will easily go through the plasterboard of course, but the drill flutes and threads on it will then be clogged with plaster dust and won't clear the steel swarf cleanly.

dev100

My apologies

Damokc

As Melodeon said, a fine tec head screw will go through it no bother once you don't hit the web of the beam. I use them a lot at work sheeting farm buildings.

I will ad though to get a good few tec heads because it may "redin" the steel and melt the self tapping head. You will be in a spot of bother then cos it will just not go through the steel then.

Dr_Colossus

If the Tec Screw doesn't work another option would be to drill into the RSJ and then tap a 5 or 6 mm thread into it to use ordinary metric bolts. Blinds won't be going anywhere with bolts which is important as big blinds can be heavy and if of the sort that pull up a solid anchor is required where the pull cord is located.

Admldj

How is the plasterboard above the door fixed? Ordinarily the ceiling joists will be notched into the RSJ leaving at most a half an inch unsupported, anymore than this and the movement of the doors opening and closing will cause serious cracking in the plaster. The reason I ask is you may be able to fix into the joists if you step back from the doors a small bit, also is there any reason you can't fix to the top of the door frame?

tabby aspreme

How much wider is the rsj than the doorframe

cram1971

Its a bit difficult to tell from the photo but it looks like there is enough timber frame to fix the bracket face fix.

What type of blinds are you using? Roller, wooden, roman etc?

The reason ? I ask is that if you can get some center brackets fitted I would be happy fixing to the ceiling with the correct plasterboard fixings (If there is the space between the plaster board and RSJ)? 2 Ends and 1 center bracket will be enough.

Also how is the top to the door fixed? Is there timber there or direct to the RSJ?

dodzy

Crimsonforce wrote: »

that wouldn't work as it would pull the ceiling down.

where the steel RSJ spans across the plasterboard is at its weakest point, as it is not into anything.

Possibly putting a piece for wood along the entire span and drilling up to the steel could possibly work..Im just not too sure

Surely the plasterboard runs under the upper sliding door frame! And the joists into the web of the RSJ?

hooplah

What about getting blinds that fit onto the door itself, rather than hang off the ceiling?

I'm not sure how thick these are in terms of one door sliding over another but they might be worth considering.

one example: https://www.hillarys.ie/blinds-range/thermal-blinds/