Handrail on plasterboard

[Aldrich]

Hi

I need to vertically mount an 18" long handrail in my mother's bathroom to help her move about. The wall I want to mount it on is a 1m wide section between a door and the corner of the room, and is constructed of plasterboard with no studs (she lives in a new retirement flat). The wall is tiled with large tiles that are probably about 6mm thick. My question is what fittings should I use?

I have been advised to use the spring loaded, winged metal type of fitting. However, the smallest type requires a 11mm hole to push it through. This seems a large hole to drill in a tile. The handrail requires three fixings at each end, so that is a lot of careful drilling to do. I am also concerned that this type of fitting is based on the winged portion gripping the back of the plasterboard, so the weight is not acting directly down through the plasterboard.

An alternative would be to use the "self tapping" type of plasterboard fitting - that screws itself into the board. However, I do not know how to handle the tile in this situation - should I overdrill the tile so that the fitting is flush with the face of the plasterboard?

I shall be most grateful for any suggestions.

David

[Aldrich]

Hi

I need to vertically mount an 18" long handrail in my mother's bathroom to help her move about. The wall I want to mount it on is a 1m wide section between a door and the corner of the room, and is constructed of plasterboard with no studs (she lives in a new retirement flat). The wall is tiled with large tiles that are probably about 6mm thick. My question is what fittings should I use?

I have been advised to use the spring loaded, winged metal type of fitting. However, the smallest type requires a 11mm hole to push it through. This seems a large hole to drill in a tile. The handrail requires three fixings at each end, so that is a lot of careful drilling to do. I am also concerned that this type of fitting is based on the winged portion gripping the back of the plasterboard, so the weight is not acting directly down through the plasterboard.

An alternative would be to use the "self tapping" type of plasterboard fitting - that screws itself into the board. However, I do not know how to handle the tile in this situation - should I overdrill the tile so that the fitting is flush with the face of the plasterboard?

I shall be most grateful for any suggestions.

David

[Cicero]

=================== I don't know how far along you are with this job but I would suggest that you use some kind of floor mounted rail rather than trusting the strength of plasterboard. A grab rail intended to be strong when bearing down might not be strong enough to carry a sideways pull which is the most likely kind of force if a person is falling over. It's quite possible that the arrangement you're considering would simply pull a whole section of plasterboard / tiles off the wall if a sideways pull occurred.

Have you considered asking your local Social Services for some help - they're usually quite good with advice?

p.s. Did you really mean 'vertically mounted' ? It seems an unusual way to fit a traversing handrail.

Cic.

[nightjar]

I would mount a vertical rail between floor and ceiling, or an inverted U-shape rail that fixes to the floor in two places. Handrails need to be able to take a shock loading of a person's whole weight and I wouldn't trust one mounted on plasterboard to do that.

Colin Bignell

[N. Thornton]

These are unsafe suggestions, no way should you be mounting something like that onto plasterboard. If you really have no studs behind the plaster, you'll need some kind of floor to ceiling joist steelwork instead.

Regards, NT

[Aldrich]

Hi

Thanks for the comments received so far. Just to clarify, the bar is to help a person rise from the toilet. A vertical bar seems appropriate. It should not incur the person's full weight, but I take the point that any substantial weight could damage the plasterboard and tiles. A bar from floor to ceiling seems rather over the top. I guess I should consider a floor mounted rail. Social Services would do it but I wanted to do it myself as I wanted to take care not to spoil the bathroom's finish.

I would appreciate any further suggestions,

David

[Andy Hall]

Be a bit careful here. I would ask the occupational therapist at social services which is the appropriate way round.

In a bathroom, there can be issues like wet hands for example.

I would also ask about the type of rail as well.

My parents have some of these in their bathroom for my father to use. They are ridged (i.e. fluted) along the length to allow a better grip without needing to much gripping.

or worse still, if the person is suddenly a bit unsteady and grabs for the rail, you really don't want it giving way and coming off the wall. An elderly person falling in a bathroom can be pretty serious.

Possibly a floor mounted rail with additional fixings to the wall would be the sensible solution...

I wouldn't do anything without talking to the OT first. We learned that there are subtle things in terms of rail placements and types that most people wouldn't think about.

We were also fortunate that the LA where my parents live use a very good odd-job type person who is very fastidious about what he does. Obviously you need to keep an eye on what's going on, but don't necessarily assume that because it's being done under the auspices of the LA that it will be bad.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Jerry.]

Always assume that a had rail does have to take the full weight of a failing person grasping out and using it to try and break the fail. ALWAYS.....

The safety of the person in need is more important than what the room looks like, decor etc. can be made good without to much effort, even the best surgeons sometimes struggle to make good damaged skulls.

[Owain]

"Andy Hall" wrote | > Social Services would do it but I wanted to do it | >myself as I wanted to take care not to spoil the bathroom's finish. | I wouldn't do anything without talking to the OT first. We learned | that there are subtle things in terms of rail placements and types | that most people wouldn't think about.

There are also lots of other useful little gadgets that might not even have been thought about yet.

| We were also fortunate that the LA where my parents live use a very | good odd-job type person who is very fastidious about what he does. | Obviously you need to keep an eye on what's going on, but don't | necessarily assume that because it's being done under the auspices of | the LA that it will be bad.

Also, if the LA fit it and it breaks, their liability.

Owain

[Cicero]

================== Since your requirement is for a specialised and limited use you might save a lot of work by buying an adjustable toilet frame which fits over the existing toilet. Have a look at:

for an example. These are loaned out by Social Services for people with hip replacements etc. and would probably meet your mother's needs better than a fixed handrail.

Cic.

[Christian McArdle]

Yes. Our local authority fitted some handrails at my mother's place when my father was seriously ill. They're so useful that there's no way we're taking them down again!

Christian.

[nightjar]

Whatever you chose to fit, assume that, at some time, it WILL take a person's full weight and that weight will be applied as a shock loading. Once you've installed it, get someone heavy to swing on it really hard. If it survives a few good swings, it is probably safe enough.

Colin Bignell