Day/Night Shade Screw/Fastener Fix Needed

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

As I was raising (carefully, carefully, as always) the day part of a day/night shade in our bedroom, all of a sudden both parts of that shade came sliding down. For a second, I thought the shade string had broken, but instead, the screw holding the clear plastic spool to the wall at the bottom of the shade had pulled out.

What should be an easy fix turned out not to be so easy. The screw hole had disintegrated so much that 2 or 3 screws could easily fit into it. I tried, with Gorilla Glue and a couple of matchsticks, to fix the hole, but the glue and matchsticks just fall into the wall space and won't hold the screw.

I need fix-it suggestions. We are taking the trailer to the dealership in another couple of weeks for some minor repairs, but I'd like to be able to use my shade in the meantime, and I also need to get the shade anchored so that it isn't damaged as we drive down the road.

Carolyn

[MacDR50]

Hollow wall anchors. Here is a site with a selection of different types.

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i...infanchor.html

The same thing happened to me. The hole was so big that it had to be filled and redrilled. I used plastic wood to fill as I wasn't sure how the wall material would react to epoxy. Once filled I re-drilled and used a plastic anchor that I set flush with a flat faced punch. I used a slightly longer screw to put the spool back on so the anchor would get max expansion in the wall. If the wall has enough space behind it and the hole isn't too bad you can use the plastic toggle. Just put some plastic wood as a filler around the toggle before you insert it, put in the screw without the spool first and spread the wings inside the wall. Clean off any excess plastic wood and then carefully remove the screw. Let the plastic wood set up and then attach the spool.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Thanks, Roger and Bea! I believe that will solve the problem. I know that the Gorilla Glue might as well have been olive oil when it came to sticking to the wall. (It did, however, stick to my left eyebrow--don't ask, 4 or 5 fingers, and successfully attach one thumb to the screwdriver.)

[exav8tr]

Two words: Molly Bolt

[Bob & Lee]

I was unable to get Gorilla Glue to stick to anything TILL I READ THE DIRECTIONS..wet the peice that is being glued. Now it sticks to almost everything and foams up and out the joint. Works really good on porus wood no need to nail.

Bob

[49merc]

Ditto what exav8tr said.