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On more than one occasion when a towel rail has given way, we discovered that the appropriate supports weren’t fitted by the house builders. Rails were only fixed onto the drywall with small anchors or rawl plugs instead of a more secure fixing behind the drywall like they should have been.
The easiest solution would be to fix it again with larger cavity wall anchors or toggle bolts but the same problem would eventually occur again and again. We believe in doing things properly so hopefully this short DIY article will help explain how to obtain a more secure fixing.
First you should find a plumber to drain, then disconnect the radiator and remove it from the wall so you have room to work safely.
Next you should locate the upright studs on either side of the area. Taking a drywall pad saw *please remember to take care that there are no live sockets and switches directly on the other side of the wall*, you should cut out a piece of drywall large enough height wise to accommodate the top and bottom towel rail wall fixings you are about to fit and make sure it’s also wide enough to expose the vertical studs to the left and right. This will allow you enough room on the existing stud to screw the wall back up when you have completed the job.
Try and remove the drywall in one section as you may be able to replace this once you have fitted some support inside the wall. If you manage this successfully you could then use exactly the same holes to hang your towel rail back up. Otherwise you will have to fit a new piece.
This is what the partition should look like behind the drywall.
*Please note that you don’t have to remove an area of this size.
You now have to cut two pieces of wood the same width as the upright studs are apart from each other and fit them at the height where you need your towel rail fixings to be. These can be attached by using nails or screws at a skewed 45 degree angle to the upright studs. You may already have noggins in the wall but you do not have to move these as you may damage the other side of the wall. If you get lucky you may even be able to use it as a fixing for your 2 new pieces you are about to fit.
It should look like this with the 2 new supports fitted.
When you are happy that the new supports are solid enough to take the weight of the towel rail, damp towels and any kids that may be budding mountaineers you can then screw your original section of drywall back where it came from. If you didn’t manage to remove the drywall in one piece, you will need to fit a new section of the same size to fit.
All you need to do now is apply tape to hide the joints, sand it flush with the surrounding wall and repaint to match your exiting colour.
Your plumber should then be able to take care of the rest for you.
Alex Paterson
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