There is nothing solid above my window to fix a curtain pole to — what now?

The wall above a window is the least predictable place in a house to drill. It has a lintel of some sort, that lintel might be concrete, steel or timber, it might be higher or lower than you expect, and there may be plasterboard and a cavity between you and it. Half an hour spent identifying what is there saves a pole falling with curtains on it.

Safety

What you'll need

• Cable and pipe detector, and a stud detector
• Masonry bit and a hammer drill
• A small drill bit for exploratory holes
• Timber batten, typically 25 x 75mm, and long screws (optional)
• Self-tapping screws for thin steel (optional)
• Ceiling-fixed curtain track (optional)

Step by step

1. Scan the whole window head before touching it.Cables to light switches run horizontally above windows. Scan the full width and 300mm above and below. Treat the reading as one input among several, and if it is ambiguous, do not drill.
2. Drill a small exploratory hole and read what comes out.A 3mm bit, high up where a bracket will cover it. Grey dust with real resistance is concrete. Red or pink dust is brick. Bright metal flecks, a squeal and no progress is a steel lintel. Timber shavings are a timber lintel or a stud head plate. No resistance and then sudden give is a void.
3. Fix straight into a concrete lintel where you find one.The best case for strength. A good masonry bit with hammer action, a proper plug, and the fixing will hold anything a curtain can apply. It will blunt bits, so expect to use a sharp one.
4. Move around a steel lintel rather than fighting it.Pressed steel lintels cannot be plugged. The options are: fix above it into the brickwork, fix beside it into the masonry each side of the opening, use self-tapping screws designed for thin steel, or abandon the wall and ceiling-fix a track.
5. Take a timber lintel or head plate gratefully.A screw goes straight in and holds very well. Pilot it, use a screw long enough to reach 35 to 40mm into the timber, and carry on.
6. Recognise the void and stop trying to plug it.Dot-and-dab board over masonry, a plasterboard-lined reveal, or a stud partition whose head plate is above your drill. A plastic plug expanding inside a cavity holds nothing, and this is why curtain poles come down with the curtains on them.
7. Fit a timber batten as the general answer.A 25 x 75mm batten spanning the full window width plus the stack-back, screwed into sound masonry at each side of the opening where the reveal is solid, with a fixing at each end and into anything solid in between. Then screw the pole brackets to the batten wherever you like. Paint it to match the wall and it disappears above the curtains.
8. Or fix long screws through into what is behind.On dot-and-dab, a screw long enough to pass through the board and the void and take a plug set properly in the masonry behind. Measure the void depth from your exploratory hole and add it to the fixing length.
9. Or ceiling-fix a track and forget the wall.Ceiling-mounted tracks screw into joists, they carry heavy curtains without sagging, and they suit the very high fitting position that makes a low room look taller. This is often the best answer rather than a fallback.
10. Test properly before hanging the curtains.With the pole up and empty, pull down hard at the middle and at each end. Anything that moves now will fail later with 10kg of fabric on it.

Tips

• A batten across the window head also solves the centre-support problem and lets you set the pole exactly where you want it rather than where the structure allows.
• If the drill suddenly runs freely after a hard start, you have gone through the lintel or the brick into a cavity. Stop and reassess the fixing length rather than pushing on.
• Photograph what you find and write it inside a cupboard door. Every future job on that wall benefits.

Common mistakes

• Using a bigger plasterboard anchor when a plug spins — The problem is that there is nothing behind the board. No anchor invents structure — find it, or bridge to it with a batten.
• Drilling harder when the bit stops making progress — That is a steel lintel. Forcing it destroys the bit, and it will never take a plug anyway.
• Fixing into the plaster of a reveal only — The plaster skim is a few millimetres thick and it is not a structural layer. The fixing must reach the masonry or timber behind.
• Skipping the scan because it is only a curtain pole — The wall above a window is one of the likeliest cable positions in the house, on a run to the light switch.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask