Monday 13 June 2011

Bored with Plasterboard...

Plasterboard is the invention of a very wicked man...

...if he's not dead already then I think I just might have to go in search of him...

According to About.com:

Drywall (plasterboard) is a miracle material, though most people never give it much thought. Up until the invention of drywall in the early 20th century, plaster and lath was the material of choice for finishing interior walls. But when drywall came along, builders could finish walls very quickly, without waiting for plasterers to do their job, and especially without waiting for the plaster to dry 


Well, be that as it may , those builders were not the ones who wanted to hang pictures and put up curtain poles!  If they had been they might have thought twice about this form of technology and stuck to their lath and plaster!  


You knew where you were with lath and plaster. You never know where you are with plasterboard... although, to be more precise, it's not the board itself that causes me the end user a problem , it's the system of mounting it.  Here, in France, the preferred system is called 'RAIL' and consists of lengths of metal screwed into the wall and floor, onto which the board is, itself screwed.



...and it's not only the rail that is screwed (pardon my French)!

Pretty well every time I try to hang a picture, put up a shelf or fix a curtain pole (today's little bête noir) I manage to hit the rail.  My drill bit will not go through it, so I can't drill a hole and put in a rawlplug; the kind of fixings that hammer into the wall and you then screw into, just bend and refuse to go in further. I dread putting up anything, which may be why I have lived here for over 3 years and put up hardly any pictures until now! (By the way, don't MOVE any of my pictures, as most of them have several ugly holes behind them where I was searching for a suitable spot without hitting rail...).


Today I had a simple task.  To put up a small wooden curtain pole to hold my lightweight cotton curtain.  The first hole I drilled seemed OK, although I was a little concerned that it just went straight through the board.  However, I banged in the rawlplug and hoped for the best.  


The second hole was another matter!  The drill bit went through the plaster and hit rail. I tried another drill bit, one I hoped would go through the metal rail... no chance!

Hole for pole 2

...and, of course, the rawlplug needs to go in further than the depth of the plasterboard... 

I tried putting the rawlplug in, marking it at wall level,and then trimming off the length but, unfortunately, when I cut it, the little bits that expand when the screw goes in just fell off as the cut was just at the place where they joined the solid part!  Typical!

So now I think my only hope is to put up a piece of wood (with 6" nails?) and then mount the pole on that.

So I am in a really bad mood now, and might just spend the rest of the day knitting!

4 comments:

Heldasland said...

wow,you certainly know your stuff.You deserve a rest,go ahead knit and have a glass of wine.

French Nanny said...

Not sure I do... but thanks for saying so, so nicely!

Jason Fist said...

There are special rawplugs for plasterboard that expand and grip from behind. Check out you local hardware store...

sara said...

I'm with Heldasland.........pop that cork and click those needles, tackle that plasterboard another day.

lily x