Can anyone help me,I have drilled a hole into a concrete lintel to mount a bracket for a curtain pole, the concrete has turned to powder and made the hole approx 15mm diam too big for any plug, I cannot drill further up or across as the other holes are already drilled ,is there some product I can fill the hole with that is strong enough to be drilled or screwed into, cheers steve

Steve Locke, March 2010

Try WetnFix? www.wetnfix.co.uk, I swear by it.

Will, November 2010

This is ages ago but in case it helps anyone. Get some epoxy injection resin and mix a small amount up on some card and fill the hole like polyfiller. This will go off very quickly (5 minutes) and once hard, it can be sanded, drilled etc like a plastic but is as hard as rock as a fixing. Similar products are available as a 2 part putty that you mold in your fingers until mixed and push it into the hole like chewing gum, again it will be hard in a couple of minutes : said the vicar to the choir boy!

Steve, October 2010

You may be drilling into Lime Plaster often found in older houses (mine 1935 has it all over) concrete will (should not) "powder".

To fit curtain poles in my house I use a wooden batten fixed firmly with two or three 6" frame fixings right through the batten and into the brickwork...

http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/61889.jpg

...and screw the pole brackets to the batten with woodscrews. Much better hold than trying to fix the brackets directly to the wall - even if it holds it will not be long before it all comes tumbling down as the lime plaster crumbles. Fixings well into the brickwork are much more permanent.

Good luck...

Peccavi, March 2010