Why can't I drill into the walls of my 1930s building?

Yeah the hammer action might help, but if you are drilling above windows, you might have to go out or up further. There are probably steel L supports above the windows and doors supporting whatever type of masonry that is there. Another option is a carbide bit for steel (that steel could be pretty thick though). Another option is to rent a ram-set at a tool rental place and place a board above the window, that you can mount your curtain rods to. The ram-set is like a gun that shoots hardened nails into steel or concrete. Now that I have given you all the tough guy options, here is my choice, as I like little effort and cheap, with good results. This solution is to buy a caulk gun and some Liquid Nails. Use the liquid nails on a couple blocks of wood on either side of your window, tape them in place with some masking tape, let them dry for a day, then nail screw or whatever, your rods up. Liquid Nails is amazingly strong.Good luck, and good vibes to ya.

Hi. The previous answers about using a hammer drill are good, another line of thought would be..are you trying to drill into the 'lintel' above the window? These can be exceptionally hard concrete and nearly impossible to drill with a normal 'diy' drill, hammer or not!..another one...my house is an early 50's and the door frames are steel, not wood! when I asked a builder pal about this he said that in older houses they sometimes used steel as a strengthening medium in some areas, stops cracks apparently. Try running a magnet or cable detector over the area ...you never know! Brian

I agree with the others but, are you using good quality masonary drill bits or cheap ones from the pound shop

are you using a hammer drill cos that's what you need and a masonry bit. Your drill might have a hammer setting on it

Does the drill you are using have hammer action?

If not you are wasting your time.

du streberin oder you freak