I am finishing off the bathroom. I tiled all of the walls and the floor. I am now ready to mount my shower curtain. I got the 'bow' type that extends the curtain out over the edge of the tub, so it will need to be mounted to the tile somehow.
I am not sure I can catch a stud behind it on each side.
What kind of mount do I use for the screws? Some sort of drywall anchor or something like a butterfly anchor?
I do know I have to use a special drill bit for the ceramic as I was inquiring yesterday at HD about it.
I did precisely the same job a few months back. For better or worse, I drilled into the grout between the tiles. Yes, the edges of the tiles adjacent to the drilled holes did chip a bit, but the mounting piece for the ends of the bar was plenty big enough to cover the chips.
While this may not be expert advice, I had access to the wall behind the shower at one end. ( I was able to pull a piece of tongue and groove from the wall, adjoining room). My screw placement managed to miss the stud, but got a piece of plywood behind the section where I was screwing through.
At the other end of the rod, I drilled small pilot holes (again in the grout), then used an oversized bit to get holes beig enough for robust drywall plugs. When I was ready to tap the plugs in, I gave them a good dollop of caulk before doing so. When this was set up, I installed the end mounts for the rod, again adding a bit of caulk when tightening the screw. This was just to ensure no leaks in the mounting holes.
Mine is working fine so far.
For what it's worth, I did try to drill through a spare piece of tile first before opting for using grout lines. I had a new bit designed for tile, and still had real problems getting through it. The hole was so nasty, I opted for the grout line. I suggest trying this on a spare tile - if it drills clean, I would go through the tile, and you may be able to guesstimate a stud location.
Umm...why on earth didn't you sort this out BEFORE you installed the tile? You easily could have drilled holes, whatever BEFORE you put in the tiles. Sheesh, this is DIY 101.
Not really - my measurements are not that precise (a zillion tiles with fitting in advance) plus I did not have the curtain bar since it was special order, so I did not know the placement nor what the hole alignment would be at all. I readily admit to being a novice, not an expert, as you appear to be.
I'll keep that sage advice in mind for the next job I do another 20 years from now.
BTW, I opted for the butterfly anchor system with a 1/2" diamond drill to fit it thru. If I do happen to catch a stud by some miracle, I'll just use a regular screw thru the hole into the studding. I am a little nervous about drilling thru 1'X2' tiles though...
Not really - my measurements are not that precise (a zillion tiles with fitting in advance) plus I did not have the curtain bar since it was special order, so I did not know the placement nor what the hole alignment would be at all. I readily admit to being a novice, not an expert, as you appear to be.
I'll keep that sage advice in mind for the next job I do another 20 years from now.
BTW, I opted for the butterfly anchor system with a 1/2" diamond drill to fit it thru. If I do happen to catch a stud by some miracle, I'll just use a regular screw thru the hole into the studding. I am a little nervous about drilling thru 1'X2' tiles though...
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It's not that big of a deal.
Sounds like you've got some pretty good advice but if you can use the grout line. I've drilled holes in tile and then wondered why I just didn't adjust and use the grout lines. If you're using large tile that may not be an option. Getting it started is the hard part. Make a smaller pilot hole first.
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