Curtain Conundrum (aka handyman stuff)

[Beep_Boop]

That sounds familiar. But just to be sure everybody is on the same page, is your situation something similar to this? (maybe with some crappy plaster)

[Beep_Boop]

I've worked with these kinds of situations many times. Well, "worked".. mostly for myself or some friends.
Given that [REMOVED], I wouldn't mind fixing it for free. The only issue is that I'm not really an expert on Finnish construction history, so I'm not so sure about the types of walls used in 1930, so it's difficult to give you advice while blind.

Since I have no clue about your exact situation, I'm gonna guess that you'd probably need a small mesh patch with small hole size and some joint cement to seal it (or joint compound, the closest I can think of in Finnish would be sementtisideaineinen). After it sets (you might need another layer), mix some plaster over it (or, a quick paint job), and your first part is done. Keep in mind that if your holes are small enough, you might not need a patch at all.
Now here's where it gets tricky. Depending on the kind of wall, you need to choose a suitable bolt/screw.You have a few options: Plastic wing anchor (levytulppa, or something like that), molly screw (molly pulti, molly ruuvi, it's a type of ruuviankkuri), or a toggle bolt.
Personally, I'd try the plastic wing anchor first (it's not your regular plastic wall anchor). The Molly is my personal favorite because it is a great compromise between bolting strength and wall space needed. The toggle is probably the most invasive option and I doubt it will work with the Finnish thin walls.

Keep in mind that a piratical + cosmetic fix by a professional would be quite costly. This is mainly due to the complications caused by the plaster. The person doing it would probably have to do the full work over 2 days (waiting for the patch to set before doing anything).

Let me know by PM (since I get email notification) if you want me to take a look tomorrow after I finish my work.

[riku2]

what if you screw a piece of wood across the hole. the wood would have several screws fixing it into the wall. the curtain rail screws into the piece of wood. this would spread the load. or use a longer piece of wood and glue it to the wall with no more nails glue.

[AldenG]

Adnan's description sounds like there's an empty space: plaster on lath, then air space (else toggle bolts etc can't work), then brick.

Your description of drilling sounds like the plaster is directly on the brick.

I may have ideas and (non-professional) experience to give advice, but first I need to understand for sure what you're dealing with. What is the plaster anchored to, brick or lath? What is any lath anchored to: to the brick, to vertical wood members, or to something else? Is any lath of wood strips or wire mesh? Are there any vertical wood members anywhere? Inexpensive sonar tools would tell you this.

One way or another, the time for minimalist or timid approaches is probably past. You can possibly DIY it without significant expense, but you may need to be mentally prepared for a robust approach.

I can tell you already there won't be a viable solution that relies on the existing plaster for support.

[AldenG]

Meanwhile a tip on hammer drills. To get through plaster, when the outer layer is really of a plastery material and not something harder, you don't want the hammer setting. Once you have a suitable hole down to the substrate (preferably a bit overwide), you can then sometimes hammerdrill the harder substance with less likelihood of fracturing and knocking off chunks of plaster.

But I realize the horse in question has already escaped the barn. You're going to be repairing plaster; the question is now only how much, with what material, and how much will be in a visible location once you implement your full mounting solution.

I do wonder how much of what you've been drilling is original plaster vs possible inferior patching material applied over the years.

P.S. When you say brick, you literally mean red clay brick, right? -since most HKI buildings of that era have that beneath the stucco. I've never known ordinary construction bricks (unlike kivitalo cement) to be hard to drill into, least of all with a percussion drill. Do you have the right kind of bit and is it still sharp?

[Upphew]

P.S. When you say brick, you literally mean red clay brick, right? -since most HKI buildings of that era have that beneath the stucco. I've never known ordinary construction bricks (unlike kivitalo cement) to be hard to drill into, least of all with a percussion drill. Do you have the right kind of bit and is it still sharp?

I wondered that too. Brick isn't that hard. But the red dust sticks to everything, so I like to have a friend with vacuum helping.

[rinso]

Since the plaster is already damaged and you have to redo that part, remove some more so you can see what is really under it.

[Upphew]

I have a huge supply of black sleeping masks - let's hope that my guests will consider those acceptable along with closing the venetians

"Enjoy the Finnish sunshine 24/7!"

[Upphew]

Oh, btw: if you are making holes you should use rotary hammer, not hammer drill. I got confused as the first one is called poravasara and latter iskuporakone. Hammer drill is good for annoying neighbours, rotary hammer is good for making holes. I remember when I had to attach some rails to wall at office and I used hammer drill for an hour to make almost three holes. Then I loaned rotary hammer and finished the third hole and made the last nine in about 10 minutes. Rule of thumb: if the tool uses SDS bits then you are good to make holes. If it has chuck with jaws then you are good to make noise.

[Jukka Aho]

Putkiremontti and brand new electrics are coming in 18months time, which will involve significant mess and replastering - we currently have ancient surface-mounted electrics which will be going into the walls. So we will get the reno team to install a pelmet and rails at that point.

Make sure to get your Ethernet cabling (from a central distribution point to modular wall jacks in the rooms) sorted out during that time as well. If it's an old building with no such modern amenities and you are going to have your walls and floors torn out, now is the time to plan for it. These days, there's an increasing number of devices requiring an Ethernet connection at home — TVs, stereos, game consoles, NAS boxes (for storing media, maintaining your "personal cloud" and serving family photos for the relatives to see), IP-based CCTV cameras, printers, even fridges — and wired Ethernet will always be the faster and more reliable option than wireless for everything that mostly stays fixed in place.

Housing companies will typically install network cabling from the central telecommunications equipment closet to the apartments during a building-wide plumbing project. If you don't already have dedicated cabling for the Internet (that is, fiber or twisted-pair Ethernet) pulled to the apartment, and do not know about their plans concerning this, I would recommend finding out. The old phone socket and the RF wall jack (coaxial cabling) for TV/radio is not going to cut it for much longer.

Note, however, that getting high-bandwidth network cabling pulled from the basement to the apartment is just the first part — the second part is getting it distributed to the rooms _inside_ the apartment. Find out whether the company is going to get it all done for you or whether you will need to plan for that second part yourself.

(Pro tip: Have one of those dual Ethernet wall jacks installed in the walk-in wardrobe as well, provided you have one, along with an electrical outlet. Some people run servers at home. You may not, but maybe the next person living in that apartment will. Also, don't forget about the kitchen.)

[Jukka Aho]

the apartment is only an yskiö, split off from a larger apartment in 1985

*yksiö

Yskiö... sounds a bit like something derived from the noun yskä or the verb yskiä. "Coughatorium" or "coughatory", perhaps. A facility built for coughs and coughing. ;) *Cough* *cough*

[AldenG]

I agree you would want at least two and preferably four special bolts/screws, maybe six for a really wide window. These would be permanent and either screw directly into the brick (based on your "3 cm" description) or be embedded into holes in the brick in silicone from a tube or a similar anchoring material with a bit of non-crumbly flex. The actual window treatment would attach to a header board with or without covering pelmet. So what kind of anchor bolts? The header board needs to be replaceable, so it is attached to the anchors either with screws or with nuts or crown nuts, depending on the kind of anchor. One type is outer-threaded on both ends (often coarse on deep end, fine on outer end) with a screwdriver slot on the outer end. It sticks out beyond the front of the drilled header board, which is attached with nuts. The other type is hollow with inner threads, is flush with the masonry, and accepts screws. All that is for solid construction, which I had in Etu-Töölö. If there's a hollow behind the wall, anything anchoring to the plaster-and-lath is going to be woefully weak

Now there are also very good stretch-removable adhesive strips these days. Enough of those well-spread behind a header-board might very well hold it to the wall (at least better than toggle-bolt solutions in crumbly plaster, which concentrate all the stress to a handful of cm-wide failure points) if the paint is good and the entire package is not all too heavy.

[AldenG]

Since it's red brick, you could also see if paradoxically a carbide wood-drilling bit on non-percussive rotation works better for you. It's just not supposed to be hard at all to drill in brick, and as Upphew suggested, a vacuum hose next to the drill bit should control the dust.

Except for shopping, the anchoring part of the project shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes plus possible drying time. I've anchored outdoor signs in exterior brick with 4 anchor points in about 3-5 minutes, and this stuff is only a hobby for me. You can patch plaster (which you're going to do anyway) and make and paint your header board at leisure.

Then again, you could just suggest guests sleep with eyes closed. It works for me.

[Bavarian]

Any chance you can install something like a German-style Rollladen (sorry that the link is in German)? The thing goes outside the window, but the controller, one the ones I've seen, can but put on the side of the window if it's one of those old-style windows with depth along the side. (That is, the sort of thing where you could almost sit on the windowsill.)

[Upphew]

Any chance you can install something like a German-style Rollladen (sorry that the link is in German)? The thing goes outside the window, but the controller, one the ones I've seen, can but put on the side of the window if it's one of those old-style windows with depth along the side. (That is, the sort of thing where you could almost sit on the windowsill.)

You know there is a language selection in wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_shutter