wall fixings question

[Stephen]

I have a shower curtain pole to put up in the bathroom

I have hollow stud partition walls with 12.5mm thick aquapanel plasterboard which is then tiled over with 10mm thick tiles on a bed of tile adhesive.

So we are looking at 25mm - 26mm thick "wall" before getting through to the cavity.

Given that this shower curtain is going to get dragged open and shut all the time, I don't want the wall fixings working loose.

Can anyone recommend a good quality STRONG cavity wall fixing that will accommodate the thickness of the tile as well as the thickness of the aquapanel that will hold up the shower curtain rail?

Wing type cavity fittings are out as I don't have a ceramic drill of sufficient diameter to make a hole large enough to push the wings through like these here:

plus covering up the excessively large hole with the shower curtain rail is going to be impossible as its of this type of shower curtain:

[sm_jamieson]

Is it a straight pole ? If you can you fix the pole by its ends, so there is no leverage force or pull-out force, the fixings will not need to be particularly strong (unless someone will be hanging on it).

There's not a lot of force exerted by shower curtains, which is why those spring loaded poles are often sufficient, but obviously a fixing should be as strong as possible.

I'm not sure of the nature of Aquapanel, but you might find drilling a pilot hole and screwing straight into it is strong enough - use a coarse thread screw. I have a generic cement board as my stud wall, and the shower pole fixing is screwed in like that. Better still, screw into a stud if you are lucky and there is one in the right place !

Simon.

[Tim Watts]

You could glue a female stud (aka threaded spacer) in and use a machine screw as the final fixing.

[Stephen]

No its not straight pole, its an L shaped pole.....

[sm_jamieson]

Aha. I hope it will have a ceiling support at the corner of the L shape, else I can see why you want good fixings ! Simon.

[Stephen]

yes I have got a ceiling support for the corner but this will be into plasterboard with a piece of wood on the otherside (which is the loft)

[Syd Rumpo]

I'd look at rubber well nuts. Say M5 x 40mm to give lots of squidge in the cavity - you'd need a 10mm hole.

M4 would need an 8mm hole, but the longest I've seen of these are 30mm. Of course, you could so it with a 40mm M4 bolt, an 8mm diameter by

10mm long spacer then the 30mm well nut.

Ebay has some, eg item 221302990033

Cheers

[Ash Burton]

I can't help you with the fixing but please make sure there is no electrical wiring in situ behind the partition walls that could be pierced by your fixing screws.

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[Syd Rumpo]

Where's the fun in that?

Cheers

[Ash Burton]

No fun at all but sadly i've attended a few inquests where touching 'live' shower rails was the C.o.D, when cables behind a stud wall had been pierced by the rail fixing screws.

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[Stephen]

Thank you for the heads up.

I "personally* know where the electrical cables are as I had taken off the old plasterboard and replaced it with Aquapanel prior to tiling.

There is just 3 lighting cables between one of the bath corners and the bathroom door.

Incidentally I have RCBOs on *every" circuit (an RCBO is a MCB and RCD combined) and of course full earth bonding of the copper piepwork

[Syd Rumpo]

A few?

Cheers

[Ash Burton]

One would have been one too many.

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[Syd Rumpo]

So how many inquests have you attended where touching live shower rails was the cause of death?

Not that one shouldn't check or be careful, but for some reason I don't believe you. Death by electrocution (a tautology, I know) is rare, about 30 per year in the UK. In this small set, electrified shower rails don't feature often. Yet you've attended 'a few' such inquests.

Bullshit.

Cheers

[stuart noble]

I wonder whether showers need curtains or screens. Mine's only an 8KW electric type but the odd bit of water that escapes goes on the bath mats and they're easy to hang up to dry

[Davidm]

Could you use hollow wall anchors:

or Rawlplug Intersets (lower down on same page) not sure of hole size but give a secure fixing in cavity walls.

[Stephen]

Thank you for your suggestion, while I can see they would work well in

12.5mm thick PB and 3mm skim, will they work well in a tiled over PB where the overall thickness is over 25mm?

I see they have prongs to catch into plaster tyo stop them rotating, that won't work well on a hole drilled through tiles as the prongs will either flatten or have to be filed off.

[Tricky Dicky]

I would recommend hollow wall anchors, you can get them to suit different p anel thicknesses look for two numbers in the description which indicate the range of panel thickness, I spotted some that will suit you on SF by Rawlp lug I think. As you said the spikes on the flange need to be flattened when used on tiles, done it myself. The one thing to use with the spikes flatte ned is a setting tool as its the spikes that stop the fixing turning when s crewing them up. Setting tools are quite cheap and a good investment if you have many studded walls they cause less damage on the backside of the PB g iving a more secure fixing.

Richard

[DerbyBorn]

Tricky Dicky wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Bung some glue in the hole and it will harden the surrounding PB and prevent the fixing from wiggling about and working loose. I have ixed many things using the plastic plugs that are meant to open as the screw is tightened. Using builders glue makes a secure fixing. I can appreciate in your case the back of the board is a long way in - but the board itself may provide a good fixing for an expanding plug (with the glue)