I need to attach a grab bar in my shower. The wall material is cultered (man made) marble. As I was preparing to do the installation my wife informed me that she didn't want holes drilled in the marble. Is there a way to attach grab bars securely to this material without drilling holes in it?
Thanks
NO!
You must not only drill through the marble, you must anchor into a wall stud to be secure. Anything less is dangerous. More dangerous than having nothing. If you have no grab bar, you will be very careful. If you rely on a bar that is not secure and it fails, you will most likely be in more danger and actually be injured as you fall.
Your wife must decide if the marble is more important than breaking bones or bashing your head on the side of the tub.
Wait until she leaves the house for a while, then drill the holes through the marble into the studs, bolt the grab bar into the wall, and then put a lot of silicon around the bar mount so you can say you glued it on.
As Ed said No , your problem will be finding a stud or it and the tile may rip out on the first big pull. My old house is a concrete basecoat over frame then tile, so I did not need a stud. It depends on your construction. If it is wood I dont know how you will find a stud and be accurate. Some modern techniques are truely cheap and can separate from the studs. Forget Glue as she wants.
Well, that's not strictly true.. You COULD, assuming the marble is securely mounted, weld the grab-bar to two 18" diameter mounting flanges, and Epoxy those to the wall. It would be ugly as sin, and you'll never get the thing off again, though. Another option would be to mount to the ceiling, but there's no way to do that unobtrusively. Is this a permanent installation? or a modification for a guest or injured person?
--Goedjn
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