ceramic towel rack to ceramic wall

[dk]

I have a wainscot procelain tile wall. I need to attach a stone tile rack to the wall. What's the best way to do this. I know I'll probably have to tape it on, but what adhesive do I use?

[RicodJour]

I wouldn't trust any adhesive. It might hold the rack to the tile, but the adhesive/thinset holding the tile to the wall might give up the ghost. Too many mights. For long term longevity I'd want screws or toggles. There're no mounting holes/plates for mechanical fasteners?

R

[dk]

Nope just a flat base on the back of the rack.

[dk]

Nope just a flat base on the back of the rack. HOw would liquid nails work???

[RicodJour]

Like I said, I wouldn't trust any adhesive for the long term.

Does the base have ~1/4" shoulders on the base of each standout? Or possibly have a wider section about ~1/4" out from the very back end of each standout? If so you might have a towel bar that is intended to be installed in a recessed area of tile. The tile supports the edge of the standout and provides far more strength as you're not relying on the adhesive for the shear strength. If so, that type of towel bar should have been installed when the tile was installed, or the tile cut to receive it.

Post a link to a picture or a web site that shows what you have.

R

[BobK207]

How about a picture of the rack? (or link to mfr site )

Is the tile install "old school", set in a heavy concrete mortar bed or just glued to the paper on green board?

I'd drill (rotary hammer) a 1/4" diameter hole into the back of the rack.

then I'd either

1) set a 1/4" stud in the tile / mortar w/ epoxy (SIKA AnchorFix fast set)

2) use a toggle & jam nut to set a sud in the wall

With a stud now protruding from the wall, I'd AnchorFix the drilled rack base to the stud.

Use the fast set AnchorFix & it's gelled hard in ~5 minutes & fully cured in ~1hr @70F

adhesive alone would make me nervous unless this thing it to small to damaged the floor or someone's foot when it falls. I've had too many adhesive only face bonds fail.

Silicone seal MIGHT work if allowed to cured un-weighted for about a week but it would depend on the size of the base relative to rack wieght & payload..

AnchorFix alone would glue the rack base to the tile but will the tile hold to the wall?

Plus "belt & suspenders" is always good, consider the cost of failure.

cheers Bob

[Ned]

I don't know anything about your wainscot procelain tile or how it's mounted but I just put two "soap dish" shelves in the corners of my tub surround. The tile was already in place (did not cut the tile before install) so I used a dremel #545 diamond wheel to cut a slot for the shelf in the tile.

Once the outline was cut, I carefully pried out the pieces (don't use the good side of tile for leverage) to reveal the greenboard underneath. I removed as much old tile adhesive as possible and cleaned out the dirt and dust, then set the stone shelves in with 'liquid nails'. Next I plan to put grout on top of that.

[dk]

Try this site

[RicodJour]

The antiqued finish wraps around the sides of the base, so it seems that that is meant to be visible. It could be inset into a cutout tile recess, but it wasn't designed that it must be that way. It looks like you tried silicone and it didn't work - not too surprising.

BobK's advice is sound (don't tell him I said so, his head will swell). Using mechanical fasteners is much more work, but really the only way to do it and forget about it.

If I had to use an adhesive and was confident of the tile bond to the backerboard, I'd use 3M 5200

. It's a slow setting adhesive that is super tenacious. It sets up in two days and takes a week to come to full strength, so you'd have to tape the pieces you're attaching to the tile with some fiberglass strapping tape (doesn't stretch) and be patient. Of course the strength of the towel rack will be dependent on the weakest link, which very well may be the tile/backerboard bond.

R