Grab Bars FAQ

Over here, epoxy would work :-)

All my walls are brick and mortar, they same in almost every house or flat in this country. Ok, some have stone and mortar. And then, the showers have ceramic tiles attached strongly to the wall.

The concept of "studs" is foreign to us. I have been over the pond, so I happen to know about them :-)

Suction cups work initially. The problem is that they get weaker every day till they fall on their own. Or worse, they fall when you are putting your weight on them. You do not know when they are going to fail on you.

I have seen shower enclosures sold on specialized shops that seem a single more or less solid structure, already with grabs installed. Probably the whole thing is glued or bolted to the walls. Surely they sell similar things suitable for stud and panel walls.

Perhaps. But we've been talking about retrofitting. Most people wouldn't be willing to undertake a substantial remodel just to install grab bars.

In any event, the most common shower enclosures are tile attached to concrete board or drywall, thin acrylic sheets, thicker (6-7 mm) acrylic sheets, or stone. Rarely, concrete.

I'd be surprised if an integrated shower enclosure and grab bars would work here. There's enough variation in size that most shower enclosures are expected to be customized onsite.

Users have to put some effort into deciding what to do. .

As I said, you should be clever enough to make it look nice, not junky. If you can't, do it the hard way that you clearly didn't want to do.

It would be more than strong enough.

What you said was "If we wanted to go to that much work, we could just replace the drywall afterward". Just? You make it sound like your plan was no more work than mine. But you'd already made clear you didn't want to take the wall apart again, so I'm giving you an easier way. If you don't see that, at least other readers will.

There was an hour long program on Story TV about a month ago which started with the start of "wood frame" houses in the USA, the ones that use studs, sometime in the 1800's I think. Unfortunately i came in late and missed the beginning, But it was an innovation and had some big advantage that I forget. Maybe it was cheaper.

Yes, there is abundance of wood, and building with studs is cheaper and faster than with logs, or whatever they used before over there. I assume planks.

The upper story is unique. I assume he bought the original cabin and added the second floor with timbered construction because that was common in Germany. Usually if you see that technique in the US it was an attempt to look European.

Balloon construction became popular in the mid 19th century, at least in the cities. With that the studs run the full length from the floor sill to the roof. Platform construction came in about the middle of the 20th century. For that the studs only run the height of one story. Balloon wasn't a good idea for fire safety and I suspect getting a long stud that didn't look like a corkscrew was becoming more difficult.

The current US technique is mostly frame it with studs, skin it with particleboard, and wrap the whole mess with Tyvek.

I worked for a general contractor after I got out of college and was waiting to go active. It was educational. Scrimp and cut corners on the stuff that doesn't show; spend money on hardwood floors and fireplaces to give the illusion of quality. The lawns were the same. Ryegrass makes for a crappy lawn but it germinates fast and looks good while you are peddling the house.

That's exactly what would worry me.

They are not something I'd use to pull myself out of the tub or other full weight situations.

What they can do, is keep you steady when entering or leaving a walk in shower. They make that safer. So would a bent nail in the wall. I used one for a few years, it helps prevent tripping. Very little force is ever on it.

Yes, they can be very solid when attached but must be checked before bearing weight.

Another thing a weakly-attached thing can do, if your hand is on it, is be an -- not sure the best word -- indicator of your current position and orientation, so if you start to lose your balance, or you walk on something that's not level and you start to trip, your changing relationship to what you are touching will warn you right away, sooner than if you weren't touching anythingm, even if you don't grip it at all.

I saw one of the endless commercials for shower refitting on tV a few minute ago and it came with grab bars. I sort of assume they are posistioned in the same place in every copy of a given model. I wonder what they are attached too besides the large sheet of plastic that makes the shower wall. I wonder how many customers inquire.

Curious.

I remember that in Canada they put a similar layer inside. They call it vapour barrier. Otherwise the humidity from the humans inside freezes somewhere inside the wall and rots it. Something that is very curious for me, as I live in an area that never freezes, and we build with bricks and concrete.

Another thing that surprises us a lot is noticing that the floor yields a bit to our weight. Almost scary. :-p

:-)

...

Problem is, you must check every day.

My floor creaks like an old sailboat in a gale. If I'm barefoot, I can feel the hardwood flooring shifting under my feet. It's just what houses do.

When it's very windy, I can sometimes hear the gable end move. My house is masonry up to where the rafters meet the walls. The gable ends are wood framed. I've always wanted to face those gable ends with a half-timbered look, but it wasn't worth the effort when I had so many other things to do.

If you have a two-story house, how are the floors on the upper story constructed?

That's your floors begging for mercy, you blimp.

Iron beams, joined I don't know how with brick and mortar. Probably they form small arches or vaults that cross from beam to beam.

This house is old. Newer houses use preformed big hollow concrete or ceramic tiles of special shape that matches the reinforced concrete beams (almost I shape). And then they pour a layer of concrete over it.

However, the ceiling of my second floor is made of thick beams of Canadian pine (imported). Beneath it there is a layer of canes joined with some kind of string, and then they stick a layer of white plaster to it, which is the part that I can see. Over it there is a fiber-glass insulation layer (almost useless), and above it I had installed some years back a modern layer of technical insulation, which is very good at its job.

You can walk over there being careful to put your foot exactly where the beams are. I can't do it.

And above that there are thinner beams forming a 30° slope, with preformed industrial clay tiles on top.

My walk in shower replecement was not by a national company but local. The grab bar screws go through the plastic and into the studs of the wall.