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What’s the best resin type product to hold a curtain pole fixing that keeps pulling out because the plaster over a concrete lintel is a bit powdery and drilling into the hard concrete means it’s blown out to the size of a finger.

A neighbour has had 4 handymen come out none of them has managed to get the pole to stay up, I tried a fisher plug but the hole wasn’t even deep enough and there was simply nothing to support the plug nearest the bracket.

I suggested hoovering out the holes and putting some PVA in there to help whatever goes in the holes next, just not sure what product and how you do it?

Do you mix the resin and fill the hole then poke the rawlplug in and then screws and let it set before putting the pole up?

I’ve used some things that soak in water and go around the rawlplug. Had mental block on what they are called and not sure they would help.

Wet and fix. They are shite! They don’t key into the substrate or they didn’t when i tried them a few years ago

Fisher fill&fix? 2 component stuff, think it worked when I used it.

No, it's a different product called "WETNFIX". I've used them in a similar situation after buying them on sale out of curiosity and they've worked fine. In the described scenario I'd probably use a couple of them, as it sounds like the hole in the plaster is big.

If that doesn't work or you really want to go belt and braces, what I'd do here is take it all off, clean out the hole with a dry brush and then a wet one to really get rid of the dust. Then fill it up with a very thick mix of a good powdered filler like toupret. Make sure you really overfill it and pack it in. Then let it go off, if it shrinks at all do a second pass.

Then sand, redecorate, and then drill a hole into the lintel deep enough that the full plug you plan to use will sit completely in the lintel. Drill the plaster marginally bigger than the first hole using a non hammer drill. Use a long screw to hammer a plug back and make sure it is in the lintel completely. Then use a long screw to fix.

That should be really solid with no chance of movement or future crumbling.

That looks ideal, have sent a link to the neighbour, hopefully they can get someone to do the job properly.

The Fischer circles of modroc work well in plastered walls but I suspect the plaster of Paris type powder in them has more 'affinity' with plaster than concrete.

I think the problem here is booking ‘handymen’ who can’t or won’t put the time in to do it properly as it’s just not cost effective for them.
I could possibly do it but don’t want to charge but don’t really have the time.
None of the people they paid to do it had a proper drill, I had to lend them an SDS!

It's a shoddy fixing point for sure , but might help to stand back and take a holistic look, are the curtains over weighed are the owners having to (willing to) 'give it too much welly when operating them' .. if they've had so much grief from what they have i can't help thinking that a new slightly upgraded system (stiffer) would have their satisfaction - (with a clever fker to fit it, who has a thats not going anywhere guarantee)

anything nice there

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They have been up for a day at a time with different trades ‘having a go’ they are not even that heavy.
There were extra bits of broken rawlplug in there and one hole wasn’t deep enough so the screw was already hanging out.
When it tried a fisher plug in the top hole which pulled the bracket flush the bottom hole wasn’t aligned, they had drilled it with the top of the bracket hanging off the wall! FFS!

If it was my wall then I would sort it with a ponderous/meticulous approach that would take far too long, the curtain pole will not be hanging off the wall though…

If you can work out the hex number then there are sites that will give you some complimentary and contrast colours.

Obvs there's a risk your room will look like a WordPress site. But could be worth a try.

Might be adding another bodge to the list but I'd be tempted to epoxy a wooden dowel into the hole and screw into that without predrilling. The fixing would hopefully compress the wood enough that it holds tight?

Too cold? Either a French grey or a very pale taupe/mustard, other option is a pink/setting plaster type colour?
Edit: Portland stone and it’s light/mid variations will work well

I guess so but the holes were not neat and I only had a good look at one bracket I removed, the others had a wide area of plaster missing that was visible each side of the brackets

Nerd point , french gray is a named paint for little Greene and farrow and ball, lg have three tints of it f&b just the one and it's very much greener (best I know probably wrong) Roman plaster by lg is funky - soul's place looks too modern for it

@Soul - there is a little Japanese "Dictionary of Colour combinations" often sold in gallery shops which might be useful. Both dull pink and pale mustard sound promising to me, although a warmer purple (mauve?) could also work.

Actually I have a French Turquoise room next to a dull purple room right here. I can try squinting at them. I can't remember what the purple is called though.

Like others have said a wooden dowel can sometimes fix this problem. PVA the hole if it's dusty and shape a cone out of a bit of wood and hammer it in. You want it to be tight as possible without cracking the surrounding wall, that can be a bit tricky. A fairly soft pine works well. I do pilot the hole usually as it can help stop the plug splitting. Sometimes I'll try it without piloting to see how the wood might react.

I've had some success with this method but occasionally it doesn't work.

anyone got a recommendation for an affordable but decent set of brad point drill bits covering the typical range of sizes?

i finally snapped enough of the ones from my cheap "1billion piece drill set" (that is mostly screwdriver bits) that i want to get a purpose specific set.

Thanks. I’ll see if I can find that next time I’m out and about.

@Mr_Smyth - it does feel a bit cold but it’s looking a little better dry. As the tin is already used, I’m going to finish the wall and make a call.

@bluehuw - the light pink next to the turquoise at the top looks nice. The wife is concerned it’ll be a bit bold having those two next to each other. 🤷‍♂️

You could always grab a cheap roll of lining paper and paint some large samples.

F&B rep girl suggested this, as otherwise your just doing little tester patches you've got to paint over.

There's a bit of mellow pale green hallway between my dull purple and French Turquoise rooms which looks fine but won't be as zingy as something more complementary.

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there are two volumes of the Color Dictionary. Highly recommended for anyone who works with colour regularly.

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Thanks both - have just bought both volumes.

Those Colour Volumes will look good on the coffee table next to the LFGSS book.