Fixing curtain rail to ceiling in bay - HELP!

[eightballtom]

Hi,

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix a curtain rail to a lath and plaster ceiling (1930s semi) in a bay window.

I've made a wooden batten to follow the profile of the window cill below, to which I planned to attach the curtain rail. Problem is I'm struggling to locate the ceiling joists to fix it to. I assume there must be some, but the ceiling drops slightly in the window reveal, so it's more like a false ceiling beneath the bay roof, if that makes sense.

I have no idea whether the lath and plaster on its own would be strong enough to support the curtains, nor what type of fixings to use.

Has anyone come across this problem before?

 

[calorific]

Keep looking for those joists. Relying on laths is not a great idea.

 

[eightballtom]

Thanks - I figured as much. I assume there must definitely be joists there? The bay is very similar to the one detailed here...

//www.diynot.com/forums/genera...window-with-a-flat-roof-and-no-lintel.294127/

The difference being that ours is a single storey sloping roof over the bay. As they're not supporting a floor above, are the joist still likely to be at 400 - 600mm intervals, as they are in the main lounge ceiling?

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit new to this and have no idea what sort of structure I could expect to find within the drop ceiling!

 

[eightballtom]

Update:

Looks like we're in business! Managed to find the first two joists in the bay last night by drilling and poking around with a wire coathanger. They seem to be at 16" centres - is this typical of a house this age? Hope to locate the rest of them tomorrow night.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[hazetimesfive]

draw a line round your batten and cut it out completely.