Fixing a baton to wall for a curtain pole

[Pebbs]

Hi,

I am swapping my old curtain track for a curtain pole. My walls are masonry and very old. When you drill into the wall it is really hard even with an expensive drill and bit, and then it starts to crumble a bit so I need to keep the drilling to a minimum. My new curtain pole needs 15 screws for the 5 brackets..which is a lot of holes! :( It has been suggested to me that the best way around this to keep the drilling of the wall to a minimum would be to put up a wooden baton using the existing holes and then to drill holes into the baton for the brackets.

What I would like to know is, how thick should the baton be? The screws which came with the curtain pole are 1 1/4" long. Does the baton have to be 1 1/4" thick or should it be a little thicker so that the screws don't go right to the end of the wood. Also, does it make any difference as to how wide the baton is?

I know that it's not the best option using a baton, and when I posted this on another forum I didn't get any help at all, only people trying to get me to not use a baton, which is not an option.

Can anyone help me please?

Thank you.

Pebbs

[rosebery]

I should say you need a minimum 1½" thick batten for this job. Its depth needs to be sufficient so that the (circular?) part of the bracket you fix to it doesn't overlap it top and bottom - otherwise it will look horrid.

After fitting and before fixing pole paint batten the same colour as the wall paint (assuming its not papered of course). It will help to disguise that its there.

Cheers