I decided recently that the curtains needed replacing with roller blinds at three of my windows; two in the kitchen and one in the bathroom.
So I hied myself to B&Q and, being of a cautious disposition, bought just the one blind to start with.
Back home the fitting method proved simplicity itself – especially for a seasoned DIY-er like myself. A ten minute job. The sort I should be able to manage while the tea was brewing.
I had first to fix one bracket at each side of the window and, being of a belt and braces disposition, resolved on screwing them to the concrete lintel rather than the back of the plastic window frame. Never quite trust plastic. Funny stuff, not natural.
Out with my collection of thoroughly worn out masonry bits, which one day I will find some way of sharpening. A charge-up of my drill and heigh-ho, off to work.
Change of plan
Ten minutes later, when I was sufficiently sweaty and arm-achey and had managed to make a mark in the wall, I faced the fact my heart had known all along. I needed to go into town and buy a new drill bit.
But hold on – I recalled those telly adverts about the No-Nails glue and how you could stick a chair halfway up a wall and sit on it. If you were deranged of course. I hadn’t got any No-Nails glue but I did have an aerosol of some strong stuff I’d bought earlier. And glue is glue after all.
I stuck up one bracket in the bathroom as a trial. It seemed okay so I left it for several hours to dry (belt and braces again). Then I stuck up the other one and again left it to dry. But it didn’t stick nearly as well, which I put down to the wall being a bit soapy. I took it off and cleaned the wall and stuck it on again. This time was better so I left both brackets in place overnight just to be doubly sure.
That was day one of my ten minute job.
Another change of plan
Next morning, while I was waiting for the early morning kettle to boil I tugged at the brackets and they came away with very little bother at all.
I went into town and bought some No-Nails glue. It turns out there are several types, only one suitable for walls liable to damp. And that was the one the shop didn’t have. Still there’s damp and there’s damp. And I only had a couple of light brackets to put up, not a kitchen chair.
I took the No-Nails home and stuck up the brackets. The instructions warned me the glue took 24 hours to dry. So that was day two sorted.
Next day the brackets were still in place so I offered up the roller blind just to check the spacing. The brackets were too far apart, by a half inch. And no amount of fiddling or adjusting could make up the difference.
This is where I had a change of luck. With the brackets in the wrong place they should have been, by all the laws governing my fate, immovable without chipping away chunks of lintel.
But, praise The Lord, they came away in my hand as easily as they had the day before.
So I ended by screwing the brackets to the back of the plastic window frame, where they remain to this day firmly attached.
And it only took ten minutes.
