fixing curtain pole

[frenchman96]

A while ago, I screwed a curtain rail to a wall in daughters house, using usual drill/rawplug/method.

The plaster is old and knackered, result being, after a couple of years, it fell down last week, so I went to repair fix.

Knowing plaster is bad, I thought (as a layman diy ) I would enlarge screw holes to about 2" square, clean out with hoover, and did a sand cement mix 3 x 1 thinking it would be a stronger mix than 4 x 1.

To my horror, when I went to drill new holes last week, the mix was crumbly so I left it, and now looking for better method.

My thoughts were, do
1) old fashioned wooden plugs OR
2) drill through the 2" hole into the brick wall OR
3) fill with one of these modern "instant rock hard" mixtures

But when seeking advice, a guy I spoke to who says he lectures in building methods, said that A) no matter what I fill holes with, it will still be affected with lousy plaster surrounding fill and wont work, and B) he said my mix of 3 x 1 has an affect that stops it working or going hard properly.

As she lives 30 miles away, I only go once a week, so advice would be welcome. As a simple DIY day, I think I favour drilling into the brick, then filling hole, although hole will be covered by wooden batten that supports pole.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Using a mortar mix is unlikely to give you a good base to secure to, nor will securing purely in to plaster.
The best method is in to the brick/block work.
I would personally, use dry-wall adhesive to fill the hole you have made, when this set is goes rock hard and will offer a better back ground surface than mortar to drill in to . http://www.british-gypsum.com/products/Gyproc-Dri-Wall-Adhesive
But I generally use plenty of this and normal have some kicking about

 

[frenchman96]

Thanks, I have just returned a bag of dot and dab to BQ, surplus to requirements.

But you do say, drill into brick, if so, it wont be needed, right?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Thanks, I have just returned a bag of dot and dab to BQ, surplus to requirements.

But you do say, drill into brick, if so, it wont be needed, right?

You will still require something to fill in the void, to form a firm solid area for brackets/fixings.

 

[frenchman96]

I managed to complete fix today.

Hole 1 I cleaned out, hoovered, and used a long screw to go into brickwork.

Hole 2same clean, then fitted a big wooden plug.

Hole 3. The plaster seemed to hold up well so normal fix with plug.