We bought suction cup bathtub safety grips to put on our acrylic tiled bathtub enclosure. They have some kind of levers you press to make the suction cups ‘stick’. They’re made by jumbL and I wish I’d read the reviews more carefully, because they keep falling off (making an alarming noise) into the bathtub. We keep putting them back up and still they keep coming loose. Some safety feature! Is there any way to remedy this? I don’t know how, other than ‘roughing up’ the tile, and I don’t like the idea of that.
I don’t think I’d trust suction cups to hold my weight. Especially if I needed them and wasn’t able to catch myself if I fell.
You might want to find some safety bars that use adhesive instead of suction cups. Of course, then you run the risk of pulling the entire tile off.
If it’s really an acrylic tile (as opposed to ceramic), it should be relatively easy to drive screws straight through the tile, drywall and into a stud. That, plus some adhesive and it should stay put.
Roughing up the tiles would be exactly the wrong thing to do.
But, I agree with Joey P - a permanently mounted grab bar is the only safe way to do this.
Yes, I think we will have to get a permanently mounted bar. The things we have are ok for holding onto lightly to keep our balance, but certainly won’t support our weight. I just wondered if there was some kind of fix I haven’t heard about.
The better ones will - I have a “Zircon” with a deep scan option - seems to work ok. You can also use expanding anchors, which should be strong enough installed in cement backer board.
The OP mentioned acrylic tiles. I don’t see why a stud finder won’t work through plastic. If they’re ceramic, I don’t know. Even if they’re ceramic, a neodymium magnet will find the drywall screws. Barring that, find them on the other side of the wall (in the neighboring room) and transfer the measurements over.
And you really only have to find one and then measure to the next one over.
As a carpenter I would install the bar with screws anchored into studs at one end of bar at very minimum. Ideally both ends are lined up on studs. It is hard to get all the screws into studs as usually the escutcheon is wider than a single stud, so some at least end up with hollow wall anchors.
Best practice is to install blocking if possible from other side if it is an interior wall, requiring a small drywall patch and painting. I realize this may sound daunting to a homeowner.
I strongly agree that a grab bar should be anchored into studs, not drywall and certainly not adhesive or suction. A grab bar that fails when you put weight on it is far worse than having no grab bar at all.
I have installed several of these in different houses. They are very good quality, and have mounting holes arranged so you should be able to get both ends anchored into studs, with at least two or three screws in each end.
I absolutely agree with most here that it should be a permanent mount. If you are hard pressed to do it or there is not another way or don’t want to risk screwing up your tiles with a bunch of holes because a studfinder sucks, or the screws coming out of old crappy cement board or if for some reason you can’t get a good position with the studs you can try using large toggle bolts. Better yet, A toggle bolt on the end where you cannot find a stud or it won’t line up. It’s risky but much safer than plastic anchors or cheap molly bolts and expanding anchors. Make sure you fill the anchor hole up with caulk before fully screwing it in. Not professional but it will (should) get the job done.
If you’re going to drill enormous holes in the wall, a snap toggle is stronger than a toggle bolt. But I wouldn’t use either one for a grab bar. Especially if you’re installing in “old crappy cement board”, which will decrease the load capacity of the bolt. A failed grab bar can literally kill you.
We bought a similar suction-cup grab bar when I broke my foot in 2011. It stayed on the glass shower wall for many months.
When we needed to use it last year, it stayed on just for a day at a tie. I think the suction pad just doesn’t adhere as well as they get older.
My take: put it up when you need to use it, and don’t put a lot of weight on it (I used it to help balance as I had to stand on one foot while getting onto a shower stool).
Beyond that, the advice to have a real grab bar installed is a better option, long-term.