How to find out what lintel is made of?

[daisleybur]

I've just moved into a brand new build house (it was finished in Feb 2015) and need to put up some curtain poles (I'm planning on putting them as close to the ceiling as possible, in order to help the ceilings seem higher) but I have no idea what the lintel is made of, or how to find out! Can anyone help? I'm a complete novice

 

[noseall]

Firstly are these houses timber frame or masonry interior?

If they are masonry (block) then you will likely have typical cavity lintels. This will mean that you will have mostly masonry to drill into apart from a thing strip of metal about 30mm up from the header reveal.

If the opening is particularly large and bears say the floor joists, then this may be a different type of lintel, i.e. an extra heavy duty fella or even a steel beam.

There may also be the option to fix to the ceiling joists via a curtain batten etc.

Typical cavity lintel...

 

[daisleybur]

Thank you very much!

There's still houses being built on the street, I've had a look and it's a masonry interior. From the look of that photo (and the feel when I knock on the part of the wall where I'd be drilling) it's brick behind the plasterboard. I'm assuming a drill with a masonry bit will be needed, can you suggest what sort of plug I'd need?

 

[noseall]

You will need say a 7mm drill and some brown plugs. 6.5mm drill bits do work better in more friable material but can mean tapping brown plugs into the slightly smaller hole, that bit more difficult.

You will need to drill through the plasterboard and into the masonry, say 120mm. You will then tap the plug through the plasterboard and into the block. You will likely need screws in excess of 70mm in length because of the thickness of plasterboard etc.