Shattered Plaster - who's right?!

[jimbodicko]

Hi - hope someone can advise in a small disagreement between the builder of my house and me.

I am putting up a curtain rail into the ceiling of a bay window. I've put up many others around the house and all has been fine. With this one, I drilled the holes ok, stopping when i reached the lintel. I then put the rawl plugs in, whic also went ok. Then when i started to screw the screws in to hold the bracket, the plaster started to shatter and has come away in chunks, leacing a hole about 4 inches across. It seemed to be in two very distinct layers (would this be render and skim? sorry, i'm not good on the terminology) as there was a flat, even surface between the layers.

I don't think a wall should be so brittle and do this, but he seems to think that it's my fault. Is is just a bit of wall that didn't dry properly, or did i do somethign wrong?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

 

[joe-90]

I'm with him. The screw went up against the lintel as you screwed it in and forced the plug and plaster backwards. Not a big repair job anyway, why argue?

 

[jimbodicko]

Thanks for quick reply.

How would i fix it - plaster or filler of some form? Anything i should be mindful of?

(Sorry for the dumb questions, but i guess that's the point of the site!)

Thanks.

 

[joe-90]

Patching plaster is probably best. Wet the hole first. (ooer missus )

 

[jimbodicko]

and for my next dumb question, but just for the removal of doubt. is Patching Plaster a special type, or do you just mean patch the plaster?!

I'm all for wetting the hole first!

 

[joe-90]

You can get it from Wilkos. It doesn't shrink or crack, probably some kind of additive in there.

 

[jimbodicko]

cool - thanks for all the advice!

 

[rssteve]

im guessing you were using really short screws maby 12mm? into the plaster. Is it a steel lintel or concrete?