How do I fit a towel rail or toilet roll holder into tile without cracking it?
Drilling small fixings into tile safely, where each accessory actually belongs, and the adhesive alternatives that genuinely work when you do not want to drill.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 40 min
- Read
- 4 min
Short answer
Tape the mark, use a tile bit with the hammer action off at slow speed, and stop as soon as you break through the tile before switching to a masonry bit. Never drill a grout line. Put a toilet roll holder slightly forward of the front of the seat, and a towel rail where you can reach it from inside the bath or shower.
Bathroom accessories are small fixings and people treat them casually, which is how tiles get cracked and how a towel rail ends up on the far wall. Two things make the difference: drilling technique, which is the same for every accessory, and position, which is different for each and is worth thinking about for thirty seconds before the drill comes out.
What you'll need
- A pipe and cable detector
- A tile or diamond drill bit in the sizes you need
- A drill with hammer action that can be switched off
- Masking tape
- Wall plugs to suit the wall behind the tile
- Sanitary silicone
- A spirit level
Step by step
- Decide the position by use, not by symmetry.A toilet roll holder goes slightly forward of the front of the seat and within a seated arm's reach — a holder behind the seat line is the most common bathroom fitting error there is. A towel rail goes where you can reach it from inside the bath or shower without stepping out. A robe hook goes on the door back or a free wall at a height that keeps the garment off the floor.
- Detect before you mark.Even a small accessory fixing hits a pipe if it is in the wrong place. Scan the area, and be especially careful on the wall behind a toilet, beside a basin, and anywhere below a shower valve.
- Position the fixings in tile bodies, not grout lines.Move the whole accessory up, down or sideways by a few millimetres if that puts both fixings in the middle of tiles. Grout is weak, it splits, and the split lets water into the adhesive bed behind.
- Tape the marks.A strip of masking tape over the marked spot gives the drill bit something to bite into so it cannot skate across the glaze. Mark on the tape, not on the tile. This single step prevents most tile drilling damage.
- Start slow, square and with no hammer.Tile bit, hammer action off, drill held perfectly square to the wall, very slow speed and light pressure to start. Let the bit cut through the glaze first — that is the hard part. Once through the glaze the body of the tile drills easily.
- Keep a porcelain tile cool.Porcelain is much harder than ceramic and it heats the bit. A little water dripped or sprayed on the hole keeps the tip alive. A blunted diamond bit will not cut and pressing harder just cracks the tile.
- Stop the moment you break through, then change bits.You will feel the resistance drop as you pass the tile. Stop, change to a masonry bit sized for your plug, and drill on into the wall. Turn hammer action on only if the substrate behind is masonry, and never while any part of the bit is still in the tile.
- Choose the plug for what is behind.Masonry: an ordinary expansion plug is fine for accessories. Dot-and-dab: a fixing that reaches the masonry. Plasterboard on studs: a proper board fixing is adequate for a roll holder or a hook, but a towel rail that gets pulled on wants a stud or a noggin.
- Bed each fixing in silicone.Silicone in the hole and behind the backplate. Every hole in a tiled bathroom wall is a route for water into the wall, and this closes it.
- Level and tighten gently.Level the accessory before final tightening. Tighten enough that it does not move, no more — the backplates are thin and the tile is brittle.
If it doesn't work
The tile cracked as the bit went through
Cause: Hammer action on, too much pressure, or the bit was not square to the wall — Fix: The tile needs replacing. Next time: tape, slow, square, no hammer, no pressure, and let the bit do the cutting.
The drill bit skates across the tile without biting
Cause: No tape, or too high a speed at the start — Fix: Tape the spot and start with the drill barely turning, tilted slightly to start a nick, then bring it square.
The bit stopped cutting halfway through a porcelain tile
Cause: Overheated diamond or tile bit — Fix: Cool it with water and let it cut with light pressure. A blunted bit is finished — pressing harder cracks the tile.
The accessory came loose within weeks
Cause: Fixed into the adhesive bed rather than the wall behind, or into a grout line — Fix: Move the fixing to a new position in the body of a tile and drill deep enough that the plug is fully in the wall material.
Alternatives
- Adhesive-mounted accessories: Modern adhesive pads and mounting plates carry a light hook, a roll holder or a small shelf reliably on a clean dry tiled surface. They will not carry a towel rail that gets pulled on, and their bond is temperature and cleanliness dependent.
- Suction fittings: Genuinely useful for a temporary or rented bathroom, and not for anything you would mind falling. Good ones with a locking lever hold better than the cheap push-on type.
- Over-door and freestanding rails: Where drilling is out of the question — a rental, a tile you cannot match, an unknown wall — a freestanding towel stand or an over-door rail solves it with no fixings at all.