Dear God, help me!

[pipme]

I would drill with care, heaven knows what may be buried within that coating you fancy hitting an electric cable or water pipe ? Probably better to chisel away, until you find the wall.
Expect the worst !!
You may still require a wooden block afixed to the wall when you find it, you hardly want enormous screws holding a curtain rail !! Remember, put it up with careful thought about being able to take the lot down .. easily !! Without recreating 'craters'. ie long screw into wall, but encased in filler from wall to surface.

P

 

[Pizzicato]

I would drill with care, heaven knows what may be buried within that coating you fancy hitting an electric cable or water pipe ? Probably better to chisel away, until you find the wall.
Expect the worst !!
You may still require a wooden block afixed to the wall when you find it, you hardly want enormous screws holding a curtain rail !! Remember, put it up with careful thought about being able to take the lot down .. easily !! Without recreating 'craters'. ie long screw into wall, but encased in filler from wall to surface.

P

Encased in filler? Hmm...

OK. So if I'm understanding you right, the thing to do is (carefully) drill an exceedingly deep hole into the wall, ideally finding a solid surface somewhere along the way. One I've done that, fill the hole with filler and then redrill the filler (once it has solidified) before attaching the rail?

Or have I got that hopelessly wrong? Is drill, then screw then filler? (like I said in my initial post, I need all of the help I can get ).

As for the wooden block, how does that work? I presume it sits against the surface of the wall, but I'm not sure how it would help? (I'm clearly not being very imaginative this morning...).

 

[pipme]

Ok, carefully find the surface which the unstable stuff is fixed to.
Careful with drill ... as mentioned there could be anything within the plaster like layer, also we are not sure if the 'inside wall' is solid beneath the coating .. where will the drill go to if not solid .. how will you know ?

My idea, open up the crater / hole and find the underlying 'wall', fix a wooden block to that wall long screws and plugs , such that the surface of the block is just below the visible, plaster like, surface .. Thus can be plastered in to give a relatively unblemished surface. Then, curtain rail brackets can be fixed to the wooden block using correct size screws for the job... no plugs required.

A sectional side view of my proposal, with simple curtain rod.

Have fun ! P

 

[Pizzicato]

@ Pipme - Ah! A work of sublime genius! Yes, I can see exactly how that would work...

I guess I'd need to develop some very basic carpentry skills, too, but it all seems quite straight-forward (but then I thought that about the curtain rails, too... ).

As regards what's beyond the interior crumbling surface wall, it seems to be quite hollow. At least that's how it feels when I'm drilling it. There's an initial resistance, but then the drill bit pretty much just leaps through it. However, it doesn't look hollow when I peer inside the hole - it just looks like mid-grey concrete.

The strangest thing however (and my Viennese workmates have spoken of the same thing) is that there appear to be a whole load of small pebbles immediately behind the interior wall. I lost count of the amount of times I drilled the correct depth into the wall and then found my new hole blocked by a tiny pebble (about 5mm in diameter). I think this is a fairly common Austrian thing, but I can't claim to understand it in any fashion.

 

[Pizzicato]

PS - Thanks again for all of the help you guys have been offering. It really has been massively appreciated.

 

[pipme]

Take care with the drilling .... cables .. you could be DEAD unhappy!! Pipes .. very sad ... beware !!

P

 

[planenut]

As a total "by the way!", how old is this building? just interested.

 

[Pizzicato]

As a total "by the way!", how old is this building? just interested.

Actually, I'm not sure. However, most Viennese buildings seem to proudly display the date of their creation somewhere on their facade. I'll have a look tonight and let you know.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Just to add to the confusion and chaos...

You could affix a length of timber (say 4"x1") across the width of the window with gripfill (and a couple of nails whilst it goes off)

You would then have an easy mount for whatever window dressing you desire...

This would also cover up the complete pigs ear of a job you've made already.

Or get a man in!

 

[pipme]

You could end up wearing half the wall, plus your window dressing ... what the hell, when in Vienna ....

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

You could end up wearing half the wall, plus your window dressing ... what the hell, when in Vienna ....

Yep,

Pip's right... Get a man in!!!

 

[jasy]

I have been reading this post with great interest and have realised what went wrong in the first place.. Mr Pizzicato lives in a world filled with shaving foam................that's why nothing would stick in the walls........shaving foam...........i am really surprised none of you lot picked up on it

 

[pipme]

Perhaps it is feathers ... suitable for someone who 'plucks' rather than 'bows' stringed musical instrument = Pizzicato !!

 

[Pizzicato]

Shaving foam?

Feathers?

What manner of madness is this? I thought I'd already clearly pointed out that everything in my world is, in fact, made out of a wide variety of biscuits.

Our wafer roof sags and collapses whenever therer's so much as a shower, and you don't even want to think about the challenges presented by our Rich Tea toilet...

 

[pipme]

Pizzd again icato ?