Towel rods keep breaking

[szeik]

Hi,

In our upstairs bath we have the kind of towel rods that are held into the sheet rock by two screws. They keep breaking because people , myself included, keep leaning on them accidentaly and they pull right out of the wall and then there is nothing left to put them back into because the sheet rock gets pulled out.

Is there anything more heavy duty I can use so this won't keep happening? Our downstairs bath has the towel rods cemented to the tile but our upstairs bath doesn't have tile on the walls so that's not an option and the walls aren't in good enough shape to tile.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Steve

[Abe]

------------ You want to attach the base of the towel holder to the wall either using spreading anchor, as seen here:

or better yet, by screwing the towel rod base directly into the studs behind the wall.

[scott_z500]

Don't mount anything to drywall or any similiarly flimsy item.

[Mikepier]

Some houses have 3/8 inch sheetrock, which makes those towel rods more easy to fail.

[Roger Taylor]

I relocate such rods so the ends line up with studs. First, use a stud finder to locate studs, use fine nails to confirm their location, then find a towel rod that may be cut so the brackets will exactly bridge the studs, usually 16 inch centers. Also, select brackets that have narrow-set screws, so you don't miss the stud altogether when you mount it. Over time, towel brackets on sheetrock will fail, and I tend to use spreading screw-in wall anchors only for lighter duty stuff, like pictures and whatnot shelves. If you put the towel rods on studs, you can practically do chin-ups on them......

[tomco2000]

Perhaps toggle bolts to make it a little more secure; or moving the rods to match up with studs.

Just a thought!

[EXT]

Open up a hole (where the screws pulled out) large enough to fit a foot long piece of 1 x 2" wood. Tie a string to the middle and spread some hot melt glue on it. Push it through the hole and pull back on the string to seat the hot melt. If you cannot get it in position fast enough to use hot melt, use regular glue but arrang something to put tension on the string for 15 minutes or so untill the glue takes a set. Use drywall filler to patch the hole. Drill a small hole for the screw so it doesn't push the wood off the back of the drywall when you re-install the towel rods.

[Norminn]

I had the same problem in a house constructed of cardboard :o) Screwing into the studs is best. I finally nailed a board across the short space I had for rods, and screwed the rods onto the board. I think the kids were doing chin-ups on the towel rods. Once, they knocked a door out of the frame because it was held in only by finishing nails through the trim :o) It had no nails through the frame :o)

[wkearney99]

While this is a novel idea, nothing replaces anchoring it right into the studs. I'm not sure I'd use hot glue for this. I'd much prefer using Liquid Nails or some other construction adhesive. They're better formulated for handling the wood/drywall bond. A good layer of liquid nails seems like it'd be a lot better than possibly unevenly-cooled glue. Putting wood behind the drywall will help in that it spreads the load across a greater area. This will mean that WHEN it fails next time it'll end up pulling out a MUCH LARGER chunk of drywall with it. At which point you'll be able to use the big hole to the right way by properly anchoring a 2x4 to the nearby studs and screwing the bar into that instead.

If the bathroom's due for a paint job then consider just opening the wall and putting in a proper anchoring point for it. Yes, it's traumatic for some to open a wall but it's probably a helluva lot less stress than fixing the danged towel bar over and over again.

Either that or find the actual studs and get a towel bar that fits their location.