How to attach curtain rail batten

[fredlike]

Hi

I have a curtain rail to put up on a bay window but it seems there's just a thin plasterboard strip a couple of inches tall to attach it to. Since the brackets are quite long I'd rather not use plasterboard fixings since I think they might put too much load on the board.

So, I thought there should be a batten instead. Trouble is I'm not sure what I can fix it to - knocking on the wall doesn't seem to give any hint of a part that's NOT plasterboard, though I'm assuming the verticals between the three frames do have something structural in there somewhere??

I'd rather not glue it, I hate glue because it's a pain to get rid of once it's there. I'd also rather steer clear of the likely asbestos-containing artexed ceiling (it's a 1930s purpose built flat).

Have I argued myself out of all the options? If not how can I find out what else I can fix it to?

 

[noseall]

Have I argued myself out of all the options? If not how can I find out what else I can fix it to?

One alternative is to scribe around the batten with a pencil then carefully trim out the plaster/plasterboard, revealing what is beneath.

You would then need to pad out the batten with a packer section or buy a thick batten so as to show some 'meat' when fixing it back to the material beneath.

There will be some filler make-up to do, but this should not be a problem.

Most builders just prod and poke the area that will eventually be concealed by the batten, in an attempt to find something solid. You can usually feel what is beneath with a sharp screwdriver or bradawl.

 

[jeds]

You could drill a couple of holes (32mm...ish) in the plasterboard to allow you to see beneath - within the width of the batten. Once you know what you are fixing to it will be easier to decide on a suitable fixing.

(If norcon comes along he'll probably suggest thunderbolts - just ignore him.)

 

[fredlike]

Have I argued myself out of all the options? If not how can I find out what else I can fix it to?

One alternative is to scribe around the batten with a pencil then carefully trim out the plaster/plasterboard, revealing what is beneath.

You would then need to pad out the batten with a packer section or buy a thick batten so as to show some 'meat' when fixing it back to the material beneath.

There will be some filler make-up to do, but this should not be a problem.

Most builders just prod and poke the area that will eventually be concealed by the batten, in an attempt to find something solid. You can usually feel what is beneath with a sharp screwdriver or bradawl.

Thanks all

I like the sound of that. I actually ran into a youtube video of somebody doing this yesterday (trimming out plasterboard to fit batten flush with surface), but damned if I can find it now.

There seems to be about 2.5 cm of plasterboard followed by 4.5 cm gap before something hard, presumably concrete but I haven't drilled a big hole to actually get a look yet.