Fitting a heated towel rail

[Paul Cockhill]

Hello

I will be fitting a heating towel rail in a bathroom with plasterboard walls. The room is being tiled at the moment. I need some good fixings to hold the towel rail. I usually use grip it fixings but these might be hard to use with the tiles. Can anyone recommend some good fixings for the towel rail? Unfortunately I cannot find any wooden battens behind the wall, where the tile rail is going.

Many thanks

Paul

 

[Scott_D]

Get some wood in before the tiles go on?

 

[JCplumb]

Best thing would be to replace the plasterboard behing the rad with plywood, other than that, rawlplug uno are great for pretty much every surface including tiles and plasterboard. Maybe a couple of spring toggle fixings for the top two if you want to make sure.

 

[king of pipes]

Cut the plasterboard out with a multi tool where the brackets are needed fix a piece of ply between the studs screw the plaster board back in place , tile over the area now the towel rail can be fitted and you are guaranteed a good fixing. Cheers kop

 

[JCplumb]

Haha. all three of us typing at the same time there 😀

 

[Best]

If you now have no choice if it has been tiled, then the top two brackets, or all could be done with the expanding brolly anchors.
Or there is another very strong toggle I once got a link for that has a solid bar, which is threaded for the bolt and this bar is connected to an outer flange. But the clever thing is the both parts are held together with a spring. Think it is German or Swedish.

 

[Paul Cockhill]

Thanks very much.Yes it has already been tiled so I think I will go with the brolly anchors. Thanks for everyones help

regards
Paul

 

[Best]

I did a search of this forum for toggles and found a thread I had been given the link to them. These are superb and will not fall into the stud wall if bolt is removed. They are very strong and the metal bar is heavy and has a good few threads for the bolt.
Schneider TPP Platti Plug cavity fixing - Edwardes

 

[JCplumb]

Thanks very much.Yes it has already been tiled so I think I will go with the brolly anchors. Thanks for everyones help

regards
Paul

The problem you now have with brolly anchors is that you'd need the right size to go through the tile, adhesive and the plasterboard. I would personally just use rawlplug uno's but if you're not confident with those then spring toggles on the top fixings. Have used brolly anchors before on plasterboard walls and they're brill, not used them on a wall after it's been tiled though.
To be fair though, I don't often use brolly anchors, if others say they'll be good then they'll be good 😉

 

[Paul Cockhill]

Thanks JC , the tiles are very thin about 5mm and it is 9.5mm plasterboard so I think I will go for the brolly anchors. thanks for all your help

Paul

 

[Best]

The Brolly anchors are reasonably good for medium duty.
You need the shaft long enough for tiles and plasterboard as JCplumb said.
The grippers on back of the flange can be a problem as won't cut into and grip on the tiles.
And speaking of the flange part, it can be very weak and snap off, especially on some cheaper made brolly anchors.

 

[Chuck]

First preference, take off the plaster board and install some noggins. Photograph and measure carefully for future reference.

Second choice, install the Grippits in the plasterboard before tiling then drill the hole through the tile in the right place when you arrive at that row.

With plasterboard providing the support, you want the fixing to be as big as diameter as possible to spread the load.

If you are only half-tiling the wall so the upper standoff (mounting) pillars are directly on the plasterboard, consider using a tile or a nice stainless steel washer as a load-spreader to avoid the pillar crushing the board on the bottom edge where the pressure is a maximum.