Well, the family's away for a few weeks visiting the in-laws
5000 miles away, so I suggested to the Landlord now was a good time to be
fixing his house... He buys the parts and I help him do some of the jobs...

I've never had much luck mounting curtain track to PB, and I've tried enough
times in my old flat... Fiddly little wall-mount plastic clips don't let
you use a decent length screw to get beyond the PB into the block - and in
my current house, the block work has the consistency of plaster of paris...

The problem is the action of pulling on the curtains causes almost all types
of PB fixings to grind loose, even metal spirals. Butterfly fixings aren't
possible in this location...

Fibre RawlPlugs (real ones) with a bit of PVA and an undersized hole has
been the best yet, and even they work loose in time.

So I though of screwing a bit of wood on, with big screws and fixing to
that - but it's ugly.

This idea turned into the following - but I've never actually done it,
wondered if any of you have: I'd like it to work first time if possible...

Drill 10mm (or so) holes in PB, and go in about 1.5", thus slightly into the
blockwork. Insert 10mm (or so) softwood dowell covered in glue (PVA?).
Knock in flush with PB, smidgin of filler to smooth off and paint to match
wall. Fix screw into this.

Or is there a better way (apart from knocking the house down and building it
properly)...?

Cheers

Tim