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It appears that I have hit a wall, literally. I have a dry wall about 1/2 inch thick and then stone/brick wall behind it. I have used a stud finder and there are no studs. When using a drill bit, I hit brick or stone pretty soon.

Do I need to drill into whatever was behind the drywall? This is a tall curtain with 3 anchor points and other 2 anchors are secure. It is the middle anchor point which is driving me nuts. I have never drilled into brick or stone before, so I am not sure.

EDIT: One of my neighbours pointed out that, likely I have a metal guard plate there, not brick or stone. This is front of the house. The thing is - if I drill more to the left (or right), the middle anchor point of curtain will look weird because it will be off-center. My only other option is to higher or lower?

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  • I think your first job is to correctly identify what you are hitting. Methods for steel & brick/concrete are different.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 8, 2023 at 7:41

2 Answers 2

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You will need a 5/32" masonary drill bit for some 3/16" x 1-1/4" Tapcons similar to the one shown below from Lowe's. Drill into the wall and brick and then screw the Tapcon through the curtain bracket and into the wall. There are many different types of plastic and metal anchors that will work but the Tapcons, in my opinion, are the easiest.

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  • It appears that I might have a metal guard plate there. Using the stud finder, I can see AC symbol flashing if I move about 4 or 5 inches to the left. But there are no AC symbol on the point I am trying to drill.
    – Quixotic
    Commented Apr 7, 2023 at 19:57
  • It's possible to hit a metal plate; it's also possible you have box steel over your entire window. Unless you can point to an outlet or switch outside or exactly above the window, I'd be suspicious of the stud finder's "AC" report. Drill a little bit into the hard stuff and try and figure out if it's rock or metal.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Apr 7, 2023 at 23:06
  • I wouldn't use one of those on brick; though it has to be said I'm used to old bricks, where one will be like bell-metal & the next like sand, with a great chance of soft mortar too. I would always use plugs. Usually two, one behind the other to go twice as far in as 'normal'.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 8, 2023 at 7:44
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There is usually no electric or plumbing in that area but proceed with caution.

Usually you do not need Hummer drill but a diamond blade drill

When selecting anchors make sure to get one for the brick wall not for drywall than drill as a deep as the anchor length then add 1/4 inch

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