How to Install a Curtain Rod in Plaster

One of the most perplexing phenomena do-it-yourselfers face is that the screws packaged with curtain rod brackets are useful only for one thing: knowing what diameter screws to buy when you replace them. Even if you are putting curtain rods into the wood framing around your window, the screws are invariably too short to reach the wood behind the drywall. And the screws are not suitable for handing curtain rod brackets in plaster or drywall. They are too short, and the tiny plastic anchors that come with them will not provide enough strength and support to hold up the curtain rod itself, let alone the curtains. What you need are toggle bolts.

• 1

  Hold the curtain rod brackets in the position you want them on the wall. Mark with a pencil the location of the holes for the screws that will hold the curtain rod brackets in place.

• 2

  Drill the holes for the toggle bits through the plaster or drywall in the positions you marked on the wall. Use an electric drill. If the drill will not make a hole deep enough to accommodate the length of the screw in the toggle bolt, you've probably hit a stud accidentally. At this point you have two choices: Use a wood screw to attach the bracket to the wall, or move the position of the brackets to avoid the stud.

• 3

  Remove the screws for toggle bolts you need for one bracket from the metal wing pieces. Put the screws through the holes in the bracket, then reattach the wing piece behind the bracket. Close the wings of the toggle bolts and push each through the hole you drilled for it in the wall. The wings will spring open behind the plaster or drywall. Tighten the screw and the wings will be pulled close to the inside of the wall to disperse the weight of the curtain rod and the curtains on the inside of the wall.