Hi! I live in an old apartment building with concrete exterior walls. I've been battling with the mounting of a curtain rod as it seems there is nothing that will support it properly. One side went in perfectly but it seems that the other side of the wall is plaster over concrete. I've tried using various anchors (both ribbed and winged ones) but they fall out immediately with the weight of the rod. I went on to search for a stud as an alternative and, after checking both sides of the socket, everything was hollow. Any suggestions/explanations as to what I'm dealing with here? Thank you for your time, Tye.

We want to finish our garage (drywall, insulation, and carpet tiles) so we can use it as overflow living space but still have it able to function as a garage when we want to move. Currently, there is a 15' X 18' ceiling that is just exposed joists, and the garage door tracks and motor (as well as some fluorescent lights) are installed on the joists. The joists look to be about 4' apart. We want to install a drywall ceiling and then blow-in insulation above that. Right now, we are thinking we need to add studs running parallel to the joists (in order to have more places to attach the drywall), and other info we've been able to find online says that we need to just butt the drywall up against the hardware for the garage door, since we shouldn't attempt to disconnect the hardware, drywall over the joists, and then reattach the hardware to the joists. Also, there are two beams at a 45 degree angle (parallel to the floor, see last picture) that we would need to remove in order to install the drywall on the joists. Would the drywall serve the same purpose as those beams, and so would it be okay to remove them? ANY advice is greatly appreciated! I was also hoping someone could expound on the text below (found on an Internet search): Truss Lift If you are applying drywall to a ceiling that is directly under truss framing for a roof, be aware of the phenomenon called Truss Lift. A roof truss is a framework that is assembled in a factory using pressed-on gang nail plates and the truss assemblies are installed on the walls on the building site. The bottom chord of the truss becomes the ceiling joist. The truss will expand/contract differently than you would expect of non-truss framing, and this seasonal event will cause the bottom chord to rise and fall in the center portion of the chord. An interior wall - one near the center of the truss - cannot be fastened solidly to the bottom chord or structural damage will occur. More importantly to you, the drywall joint between an interior wall and the ceiling will crack if it is fastened in the usual manner, and this crack can be as much as 1/2". What you need to do is fasten the ceiling drywall normally except for about 2' out from the interior wall. This portion of the drywall will "float". The corner joint between the ceiling and wall drywall can be taped and filled in the usual manner and it will flex enough to keep from cracking. This seasonal rise and fall of the ceiling is usually not obvious if the ceiling drywall floats properly. Since the truss rests on the exterior walls, nothing special needs to be done at that point; fasten the drywall as usual.