I am frustrated. I need to hang a matchstick shade inside an 8' window opening. The shade comes with little ring type hangers that protrude from the top of the shade. I must hang from the top (horizontal) inner surface of the window opening (think of it as similar to a ceiling). Because I want the shade to be as close as possible to the top surface, I am not going to hand it from hooks. I bought little flush mount hangers that require 2 # 8 screws to mount to the surface. The entire little bracket is about 3/4" long so the screws are rather close together. I had drilled a pilot hole in the top of the window opening to be sure it was wood (I believe the house has mostly metal studs). There was wood so I started out on my merry way. The shade, being 8' long, has a total of 3 hanging points. The side hanging points are approx. 19" from each end and the middle hanging point is approximately half way in between. I installed the first screw in each of the outer brackets with no problem - these were approximately 1.25" from the back of the window and 2" from the outer edge of the opening (the plane of the wall). Then, I went to drill my pilot holes for the other screw hole in the bracket and, guess what? No wood - just drywall. Also, the middle hanging point has no drywall whatsoever, for either screw. I never would have dreamed that a header didn't go all the way across an 8' window opening. So now I don't know what to do. I don't know what kind of anchor would be available for a #8 screw with a download load AND the fact that the screws are so close together. If I install 2 anchors that close together, it seems it would just weaken the drywall too much for it to support anything. Hope I have done a good enough job trying to explain this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
