Some questions for you material gurus!

[Nancy Biäng]

1, what is the simplest way to find out if you have single, double, thin or thick drywall in the walls?

I'm thinking of putting up a curtain wire across a room that is about 4 m long. There is drywall on both walls where the brackets will go up, so what should I use to mount the hooks? I will probably put a hook in the ceiling too, to avoid having to tension the wire too tightly. But there will be a significant pull on the hooks anyway, both to tension and for the weight of the curtains (I'll try to use very light ones).
There are a plethora of molly bolts and the like, but what works best for "tensile load"?

 

[thomasx]

For that purpose, I had said that you should make sure to attach it typically behind the plasterboard, in one way or another.

 

[Nancy Biäng]

Any clever way to find the studs then? You can "tap your way" but it's not always easy to hear.

 

[KnockOnWood]

Try with a neodymium magnet!
Then you'll find the fasteners, the screws, that the drywall is attached to the studs with.
Surprisingly easy if you have a little patience and precision!

 

[Nancy Biäng]

Thank you!

 

[Fjojtmehmet]

Rule finder is still the easiest
I bought a Stanley fatmax at Jula during some sale, I think I paid about 50kr

 

[thomasx]

One might consider taking a knife strip and sliding it across the wall to see where it catches. The one I have for finding small metal objects on the garage floor and the lawn when the boys drive RC a bit too wildly has really strong magnets, so it should work. I should probably give it a try sometime, just need to find a plaster wall first

 

[Peter2400]

Even if you get a really good anchorage in the walls and can tighten hard, a wire is still not so "fun" as a room divider, we tried with a light fabric and it still sagged in the middle. So we switched to a track with ceiling mounts and a heavier fabric, it got better. If you haven't gotten the wire yet, maybe that can be an alternative.

Like this one for example. http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/70299153/

 

[thomasx]

Even if you get a really good attachment in the walls and can tighten it hard, a wire is still not so "fun" as a room divider. We tried with a light fabric, and it sagged in the middle. So we switched to a track with ceiling mounts and a heavier fabric, and it was better. If you haven't gotten the wire yet, that might be an alternative.

Like this one for example.[link]

I have had exactly the same experience. We had a span of 4.5m. We used Ikea's Kvadrant, but it seems they no longer have it, unfortunately.

 

[Nancy Biäng]

Happ... Now I have something to think about.

 

[toolman77]

If you still resort to wire, it should be a rule in the transition between the ceiling and the wall.

I have previously bought a discreet sliding rail to mount on the ceiling at Bauhaus which was nice and cheap. I think the brand was Gardinia but I can't find it on the website.

 

[Nancy Biäng]

I already have the wire, and the solution is not permanent, so I'll probably try to find a rule. Good tips toolman, testing at ceiling height

 

[Nancy Biäng]

Maybe you could take a knife strip and run it across the wall, and see where it sticks. The one I have for finding small metal items on the garage floor, and the lawn when the boys drive RC a little too enthusiastically, has really strong magnets, so it should work. I'll have to try it sometime, just need to find a drywall first

There are plenty of drywall to test on here

 

[nikasp]

A regular magnet works just fine.

 

[f91jsw]

The magnet trick assumes that there is no particle board or OSB behind the drywall, because then it doesn't need to be screwed into the studs. For most purposes, it doesn't matter since you might as well screw into the board, but for this purpose, it's questionable if it will hold. There are significant forces when tightening a cable.