Erecting a towel rail

It’s me again,

Recently I had to put up a new towel rail in my newly tiled bathroom which meant I had to drill into my new tiles without damaging them.

I discovered a very easy way to do this which I thought was quite interesting and this is how to fit you towel rail, or any other item to a tiled wall.

1. Put your towel rail against to wall at the required place and height and mark the hole you wish to drill on one side with a marker.
2. Take masking tape and put it over the mark on the tile. I suggest 20 – 25mm wide tape. You should see the mark through the tape. (Masking tape will prevent the drill from “running” all over the place and also prevents the tiles from chipping and cracking.
3. Take your drilling machine and fit the correct size masonry drill bit to suit the rawl plugs that are generally supplied with the item you want to fit.
4. Take a plastic packet and fit a strip of masking tape to the one side.
5. Tape the packet to the tiles just below the place you are going to drill. This will catch all the dust from the hole and make clean up a lot easier. (If you have someone else around you could get them to hold a vacuum just below your drilling spot to catch the dust.)
6. Place the rawl plug along side your drill bit and mark the length of the rawl plug on your drill bit using a piece of masking tape. (This will tell you how deep you need to drill)
7. Drill the hole through the masking tape on the mark made. Ensure you hold the drill at a 90° angle to get straight hole.
8. Once drilled fit the rawl plug into the hole and mount the towel rail on the one side (lose enough to allow it to hang down while drilling the other side hole)
9. Lift the towel rail and ensure it is level using a spirit level, laser level or tape.
10. Mark the second hole.
11. Swing the towel rail out of the way
12. Repeat the above procedure for the second hole.
13. Swing the rail into place and tighten firmly.

This will give you’re a secure level fitting for towel rails, toilet roll holders or any other bathroom or kitchen item to be mounted on tiles.