Fixing curtain rails in a newbuild

[estikat]

We've just moved in to a brand newbuild house (yippee!), which we've bought through a shared ownership scheme.

Although we've been told we can drill holes/hammer in nails at our own risk, should any cracks appear in the first 12 months, we probably won't covered by the guarantee. They've told us to use "no nails" for everything.

I can't help but think whoever issues this advice hasn't thought this through. While most things we can hold off or use that (such as picture frames, hooks), the one thing we can't do this with are our curtains and blinds.

So far we've used tension rods to fix up the net curtains but where our darling 18 month old daughter can reach, she thinks it's fun to pull on the nets, and has already had the rod fall on her a couple of times.

We've got someone coming to fix up the curtain rails for the thick curtains next week, but before I get this confirmed has anyone else come across this catch 22, specifically with newbuilds and drilling holes in the first 12 months? I just don't see how it's possible to go with no nails hanging up wall to floor thick curtains, and even less so with a small child who likes to pull on them.... But we can't not have curtains for a year otherwise we have no privacy!!

Some people have mentioned getting a wooden plinth fixed up which can then be drilled into, but not only can I not find anywhere that sells them, I can't even see how you get those up either without drilling it in.

The wooden plinth is just a length of wood from somewhere like Wickes, 1.5 inches or so each side.

You can prime it & paint it to match the wall.

But how is it fixed into the walls, with screws surely?

You have to drill a hole then use plaster board fittings to screw it all together.

I don't think a curtain poles going to cause a crack over a window. We're in a new build and they went up without batons.

The fire place was a bit of a disaster but I can put a mirror over it....

What have your neighbours done?.

One I spoke to doesn't care and said as he's getting professionals in he really can't see what damage is going to be done.

The rest of our neighbours are council tenants who aren't allowed to drill at all and plinths were installed for them, and the ones who haven't either have nothing or have put bin bags on the windows!

That's the most bizarre advice I've ever heard. I've lived in three new build houses and not one ever expected us to live without curtains and blinds for a year. We were advised not to decorate ie wallpaper and paint but that's because of settlement. Cracks are visible so they can be rectified. We had blinds up before we moved in. Is there a central customer service you can check the advice with? It's not reasonable to expect you to live without anything at your windows for a year

I would be really tempted to ring and ask what they suggest for fixing curtains and blinds as the advice is nonsense.

There are likely to be some settlement cracks in a new build anyway as a pp stated.

We moved into our new build last March, and the developers actually fitted all our curtain poles for us before we moved in. We have heavy blackout lined curtains in the living room, and haven't had any cracks appear from this. We were advised about settlement cracks so not to wallpaper, and were again advised not to hang/nail anything into the wall for the first 12 months unless necessary to our day to day living, which we've held off doing. We have had some settlement, particularly around windows (though only very minor) but nothing at all from the curtain poles, and they are all fixed directly into the walls without batons.