Installing Bathroom Accessories Yourself

[sugarkitty 0]

Anyone tried? The labour seems quite expensive - but not sure why no one on the forum installs their own accessories, or are there risks I am not aware of?

Looked at some Youtube videos, looks like all you need is masking tape, pencil, drill and wet sponge.

[Dylanchua 4]

I think better not cause of the plumbing inside that we are not aware of. If you do know how to can la. I saw my contractor do is...

1) do marking

2) drill the holes as per the marking

3) insert red plug(?) and hammer in

4) screw the accessories in

Be careful cause bathroom tiles are more prone to breakage.

[w7_lee 11]

It is easy, I did all my accessories (bathroom & rest of the house) myself.

But like Dylanchua mentioned, you need to be careful if you have conceal pipes in the wall.

My one suggestion is to replace all the screws with stainless steel. Those screws that come with the accessories are mostly chrome-plated screws. With time, they will corrode and it will be difficult to remove them in future.

[sugarkitty 0]

Thanks for all your tips and suggestions. One solution can be to get a multipurpose/ metal (pipe and cable) detector (not the treasure seeking kind!) from a hardware store - I think about $100?

Do I need a hammer drill (for drilling into concrete) or will a normal drill do? Hammer drill is more ex. Ikea has a cordless one (FIXA) for less than $150, thinking about just getting that to gao dim. Will hammer drill crack the tiles more easily than normal drill? w7_lee, did you install yours on tiled wall or normal wall? Any special thing to do for tiled walls?

[w7_lee 11]

For drilling on wall, you need to use hammer drill (regardless tile or just normal wall).

You need to check if those sold at Ikea has hammer feature. Most corded drills nowadays allows you to switch between hammer or normal and I think they don't cost much either. You might be able to get it below $100 at hardware shop. Maybe Giant sells them too (non branded ones).

The drill bit is different too. Just tell the hardware shop guys that you want the drill bits for wall drilling. I think the normal is size 6 or 8. Get the rubber plugs for the drill size too.

And again, get stainless steel screws. In the toilet, it is damp and the screws will corrode after a year (if not months).

[w7_lee 11]

Mine was done on tiled walls. The hammer drill SHOULD NOT crack the tiles if the tiler did their job right. If the tiler only put cement on the edges of the tiles and fix in on, the center of the tile is hollow (i.e. no cement). In this situation, if you apply too much force, the tiles may crack. You can check this by tapping the tile and listening to the sound. But I have drilled on hollow tiles before and they did not crack either. I normally start with drill turning at a slower speed (half depress the trigger on the drill) and applying light force. Hold the drill firmly as the drill will start hammering onto the wall (while rotating) when you apply force. Once you see the drill bit has breach the tile surface by 3 or 4mm, you can squeeze the trigger (drill rotating full speed) and apply a larger force. Once you start to see cement dust, the tiles has a through hole and you can now drilling on the structural wall. You can use more force. No need to be nice to cement. No need to do anything special on the tiles besides marking the hole location.

If you are drilling a fixture with 2 holes, mark and drill 1 hole first. Then secure the fixture (plug & screw) and then marked the 2nd hole. Remove the fixture, then drill the second marked hole. Unless you are experience, the above will minimize accidentally having the 2 holes totally out of position.

Good luck.

[sugarkitty 0]

Thanks for the tips!

[WordSmith 45]

should be no issue

[ipaq4444 0]

Mine was done on tiled walls. The hammer drill SHOULD NOT crack the tiles if the tiler did their job right. If the tiler only put cement on the edges of the tiles and fix in on, the center of the tile is hollow (i.e. no cement). In this situation, if you apply too much force, the tiles may crack. You can check this by tapping the tile and listening to the sound. But I have drilled on hollow tiles before and they did not crack either. I normally start with drill turning at a slower speed (half depress the trigger on the drill) and applying light force. Hold the drill firmly as the drill will start hammering onto the wall (while rotating) when you apply force. Once you see the drill bit has breach the tile surface by 3 or 4mm, you can squeeze the trigger (drill rotating full speed) and apply a larger force. Once you start to see cement dust, the tiles has a through hole and you can now drilling on the structural wall. You can use more force. No need to be nice to cement. No need to do anything special on the tiles besides marking the hole location. If you are drilling a fixture with 2 holes, mark and drill 1 hole first. Then secure the fixture (plug & screw) and then marked the 2nd hole. Remove the fixture, then drill the second marked hole. Unless you are experience, the above will minimize accidentally having the 2 holes totally out of position. Good luck.

Thank you Sir

[Russel 1]

There are lot in youtube and that are really easy to do.

[thomasn2376 1]

Na, there is no risk at all. It will just take a bit longer ... than usual. Go ahead.

[conie choo 2]

Thanks for the tips!

but afraid tiles crack! better ask handyman do for us?

[deeraj154 0]

Yes right i also wanted to try to fix tiles in my bathroom, But later i think it's better one expert can do this handsomely.So do not want to take risk..

[allanjurong 0]

call me, i am a local handyman eight384892eight

[marmar 0]

i DIY quite a lot of stuff but i don't think i want to risk ruining the renovation/tiling by saving on labour and DIY-ing