"Etaoin Shrdlu" wrote in message
. uk...
newshound wrote:
On 04/04/2014 11:37, Etaoin Shrdlu wrote:
wrote:
Etaoin Shrdlu wrote:
I had a folding shower screen delivered yesterday. I have to admit
that
at 20 Kilos, it is a bit heavier than I was expecting. Looking at the
three screws (about 1-1/4" long) provided, I'm rather worried that
when
it gets extended to its full length of 1 mtr, it's just going to pull
the screws out of the wall, and come crashing down.

The big risk is if someone slips in the shower and grabs the screen.

With half-inch plaster depth you are only going to have half an inch
of screw in the wall.

Owain

Quite. I'm imagining all kinds of things happening. At the moment, I'm
considering attaching some rectangular aluminium section to the wall,
and having it go through the ceiling, and fixed to one of the joists in
the loft. And bolt it to that. I can't imagine I'd be really confident
with anything less.

Certainly no good for fitting into plasterboard. But, if you have a stud
in the right place, much longer screws going into that should be OK.
Three doesn't really sound enough to me, though. If you have a block or
brick wall then long enough screws with good fixings should be fine. If
the wall is "dodgy" you could consider studs fitted into injected
plastic filler.

The aluminium section idea should work, although it is a bit more cost
and effort. I assume you have good access from above? You would still
need to attach the aluminium section to the wall at the bottom.

It's a block wall, in good condition. I guess much of the problem is that
I'm not too happy about my own drilling-hole-in-block-wall skills. Quite
often I hit something hard (like little stones in the blocks), or hit the
edge of a block and go into the mortar, and end up with an oval hole that
doesn't hold the plug as much as I'd like. It's not always too much of a
problem, but with something this heavy, that sticks out so much, and in
the location that it is, everything is going to have to be perfect.

I have block walls myself and use dynabolts for the stuff
with a high load on it and have never had one pull out.

I only use screws and plastic plugs for lighter stuff like
electrical plug strips etc.