The central bracket of three needs to be mounted to a double layer of plaster board (which has also been plastered).

I appreciate this a terrible substrate to share the load of a reasonably heavy pair of curtains. However, this and the interior decor are beyond my control.

In terms of fixings, I’ve considered the following, which is probably the best idea:

Or, these. The logic being that the expanding section will dig in between the two layers of plaster board and hold:

I could just use the biggest standard wall plug which will fit? Something like a 10 x 50 mm plug is probably the biggest I could fit with a screw diameter small enough for the bracket.

Any other ideas?

Cheers,

Paul

I used the things in the first picture, I can’t remember what they’re called. They work fine but remember to drill a pilot hole or it won’t go in straight.

As above I used the top fixings for all of my curtains, they are all still there.

Fit a mounting strip of wood first, to spread the load more tightly..?

The problem is that you are limited by the strength of the actual plasterboard.

You could always mount a piece of wood across the length of the curtain rail and allow you to spread the load across more fittings and more plasterboard?

If you have a cavity behind the plasterboard, I would use something like this:

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p27061?searchstr=toggle%20fixi

Much stronger.

I’ve used the first things for basically everything in our house that’s mounted on plasterboard. Curtain rails, mirrors, large pictures, shelves, television. Nowt’s fallen down.

Gonna leave some big holes when we move out though.

Cheers, All. I’ll go with the first option.

I’ve mounted radiators with the top ones. If they can handle a radiator full of water then I’m sure they can deal with curtains.

The other option is those things the kid on Dragons Den designed with his grandad:

Gripit Plasterboard Fixing

the expanding section will dig in between the two layers of plaster board

For that to happen, there would need to be quite a large gap between the two sheets of plasterboard. If there is an insufficient gap such that a good part of the expanding section of the bolt is inside the hole drilled in the inner sheet of plasterboard, then I suspect it may not work (the plasterboard around the expanding section will prevent it expanding properly).

Indeed, and I’m not sure you’d really know until it failed, as it would presumably expand into the outer layer of plasterboard. I’d be wary unless you knew the composition of the wall and were confident there was a significant void behind the outer layer.

hooli +1 as long as there’s a decent gap behind the plasterboard.

Same issue in our new build – the big helical fixings (top of the OP) are OK but I’ve had two pull out so far.

Used the butterfly fixings in the garage (which for some weird reason was boarded throughout) to hold up bike hooks and they’re still going strong three years on.

As everyone above – the first of your two options. At our house the previous owners had a secondary handrail fitted to the stairs (an old couple) and it was fixed all the way with those – my little girls could hang off it without it budging an inch.

However, also as mentioned above, you could fix a wooden batten too – that is the ‘traditional’ way to do it but high performance fixings these days kinda do away with the need.

+1 for the spirals but drill a very small diameter hole first to make sure you are hitting a cavity – otherwise they will chew up a big chunk of plasterboard when they hit a stud or frame.

What’s behind the plaster board OP?

Also, there’s numerous different densities of plaster board. Most common is wallboard which doesnt have great pull out characteristics. If you have a high density board (often uses in social housing and public buildings) you’ll get a better fixing.

Options in order of preference:
1. Fix to solid substrate
2. Fix a curtain batten to spread the load
3. Use plaster board heavy duty fixings

The trouble with using the two types of fixing above is that they work loose with movement, ie. pulling curtains to open/close. They are fine strength wise for things like radiators or a tv but no way would I use them on a curtain rail unless it was to fix a piece of wood to then fix the curtain rail to.

These work well but…

…you want a setting tool for them.

I did a whole shoe shop of shelving with them and they’ve been fine, but as said above, they may work loose with time due to moving curtainage..

I’d consider the baton idea someone mentioned above to spread the loads.

Because you dont know what is behind the plasterboard, drill a small hole gently through the board, and mark on the drill with some tape the depth before you hit solid wall,(ensure drill is off before attaching tape) you now know how long a screw and fixing is required.

Now with a masonry drill drill into the solid behind the plasterboard, screw screw slightly into wall plug and insert through plasterboard, and tap into solid wall hole, remove screw, now attach bracket for curtain, and screw to wall.

Those grip-it things are great, done tv’s, wall units, shelves, bike hooks and very heavy storage heaters with them, they are a lot easier to use than some of the other fixings where you gently turn the screw up tight while hoping the bigger part doesn’t start to pop out. They do require a larger hole than some fixings, the bit I purchased wouldn’t fit in my drill but the boards were so soft I just used gloves and twisted it by hand which actually meant the hole was very precise and not widened by pulling back on the bit.

An age old problem and for your curtain rail mount, all of the options you looked at are not man enough for the job. I’m currently fitting a kitchen for a customer and their walls are plasterboard stuck to breeze block with dollops of plaster (dot n’ dab). To hang the wall units we drill right through the plasterboard, through the air gap and into the breeze block. We then use fixings which are essentially like 8cm raw plugs that go right into the wall as well as winding into the plasterboard at the front. We also coat both plugs and screws with expanding p.u glue. The *********’s going nowhere.
On stud walls we either locate the studs to fix to or cut a long horizontal slot in the plasterboard and then fix a wooden batten to hang from.
Sorry I don’t know the name of the plug type fixings but an internet search should come uo with them.

Update – the fixings are by dryline pro.

@Project has the correct answer.