Shower head rail/arm on tiles/plasterboard

[d4rkcell]

Hello. I will get right to it.

We had our bathroom done about 7 or 8 years ago. The rail/arm that holds the shower head above our bath has come loose at the top and is essentially hanging purely by the lugs of the rawlplug. Infact you can see the rawlplug. It wobbles all over when trying to adjust the shower head and it is only a matter of time before it falls off completely.

The wall is tiled on top of plasterboard/stud wall/partition. I was hoping someone would be able to give me some guidance on the best way to to take it down and replace with a new rail/arm (this one looks a bit tired now). I am not an expert by any means but i can deduce that drilling through a tile onto plasterboard is going to create a god awful mess and really not be a very good way to fix the new rail/arm to the wall. I am hopeful that i might be able to get a rail/arm the same size as my existing on meaning I can re-use the holes that are there. If not then I was going to grout the old holes and seal with grout sealer and then obviously either drill new holes or work something out.

Would some sort of adhesive be better or are there some special fixings/plugs I can use in the existing holes or new holes? Would I be better off getting someone round to do this for me like bathroom fitter/plumber who has more experience doing this sort of thing? The last thing i want to do is trash a tile or worse my wall. I cant buy the tiles any more and I foolishly chucked the spares I had.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bosswhite]

When it comes to fitting onto plasterboard, I find Spring Toggles work best, simple to use and can be pushed into the original hole,
if the screw is too long just cut it back to size.
Dont screw too tight though you could crack the tiles.

 

[foxhole]

Drilling into tiled plasterboard is not messy and should hold well if the correct screw and plug are used. Toggle fixing I find require large holes and are a weak fix unless the load on the front is spread, not something likely with small shower brackets and the flat head screw is rarely the correct size for the fixing.Most brackets require countersunk screw of correct dimensions.

 

[longdogs]

If you can't get the same size riser rail, buy a slightly longer one and cut it to fit (don't cut the end with the notch in it).