Stick-on bath shelf

[Zakko]

I have one of those bath shelves which sticks on to the tiles with suckers.

PROBLEM is that even when the shelf is lightly loaded, the suckers lose their grip after a few hours.

I know wall-screws is a far better way to fix a bath shelf but I want a temporary shelf.

The big supermarkets sell these sucker shelves and I tend not to think that a large percentage of sucker shelves get returned otherwise it would cost too much for the store just in handling all the returns.

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QUESTIONS

Why do these sucker grips shelves fail to hold.

(1) Am I doing something wrong? I clean the surface of the tile, I let all the air out when the sucker is squashed. The sucker seems to hold very well ... until I turn my back for a few hours.

(2) Maybe using suckers is a design so inherently bad such that no-one here has ever much success. Or is your sucker shelf staying up?

[Angela]

I bought one like that then got tired of it very quickly. I graduated to this and it sticks and stays stuck, and I out shampoo and shower bottles in it. It has locking suction cups. Excellent.

[Zakko]

Thanks for the link! Oddly enough, only the one product you mentioned on that web page has "locking" suckers.

By co-incidence another product shown on that page is *identical* to the one which is giving me trouble! I mean this one:

unlikely that John Lewis would stock this if it they got a lot of complaints. And yet I can't get the shelf's suckers to work beyond a few hours.

[George]

For suction cups to stick to the tiles in a bathroom,the tile must be thoroughly devoid of dirt and oils ie wipe with turps or meths. The cups also must be cleaned.

I should know...the darn penquin radio is stuck fast and if I remove it I swear the tile will break off before the radio. ;-)

[The Medway Handyman]

Oh what a surprise :-)

Because its a bloody daft idea in the first place. Doomed.

[Greg Neill]

The tiles should also have a smooth, glossy surface. Some tiles have some texture that will allow air=20 to gradually get under the suction cup.

One thing you might try is a very thin coating of petroleum jelly around the rim of the suction cup to act as a gasket.

[George]

Glass shelves yes,but the type he's got are not a daft idea to stick on tiles.

[Zakko]

The tiles are old (30 years maybe) so perhaps they are invisibly pitted. I'll try the petroleum jelly approach.

[<me9]

They could also be slightly porous.