Towel bars, clothes hooks, and even bathroom shelves are available in various sizes, materials and degrees of sturdiness. The choice of visual appeal is wide. But, unfortunately, visual appeal is not the only consideration when purchasing hardware for the bathroom.
While a dainty rack to hold a lace guest towel can look lovely near the sink, the reality is that sooner or later it will be expected to support the weight of wet towels and even a heavy bag of personal bath products. Even if the rack survives the weight, it’s possible that the wall that is supporting it won’t Going Here.
Bathroom shelves often accumulate cosmetics, hair styling equipment, and even books and magazines in addition to the decorative candles and figurines that were visualized when the bathroom was designed.
Excess weight on the towel bar or other bathroom fixtures can not only cause the bar to bend or break, but the pressure can also pull the screws out of the wall and cause damage. And, let’s face it. A towel rack is the perfect place to hang anything that may need to be off the floor during a shower, bath or quick cleanup. Unfortunately, many people use towel racks and other bath fixtures to help them keep their balance while bathing. While the fixture was never meant to be so abused, knowing it’s bound to happen should be enough incentive to install the fixture with that end result in mind.
Locate the studs in the bathroom. The studs will offer the most sturdiness for the fixture and can be located with a stud finder. If both ends of the fixture can be secured into studs, install the fixture using wood screws.
If you are going to install bath hardware into drywall with no support behind it, hang the fixture using a molly bolt or hollow wall anchor. This is a type of fastener that has a flare that opens on the back side of the drywall to keep the screw from easily pulling out. Drill a hole using a drill bit the same size as the anchor, place the bracket, and insert the anchor bolt.
Use the same precautions and mounting techniques for anything that is installed on the bathroom wall, from the hook to hold a bathrobe to the toilet paper roll holder to keep the occasional misuse of the fixture from causing major damage to the wall.