Well wouldn’t you know it.  Exactly 2 months after we just had our bathroom completely remodeled my three year old daughter decided to try to hang from the towels that were draped over our bathroom towel bar.   You can guess the outcome of that disaster.  The towel rod ripped out completely from the drywall and my blood pressure shot up by about 40 points.  Ahh the joys of homes and kids. Nevertheless, after I had settled down it was time to figure out what we had to do to replace the towel rack and also what was going to be involved with the drywall work.   First lets talk about the actual bar for our towels.  Even after it was completely pulled off the wall, it was fortunately still in tact.  That got me wondering …What’s the point of having them anyways?  Do they need to be attached to the wall?  How am I going to keep this from happening again?  All good questions to consider…but to be answered another day.  We’ve got to fix this towel rod.

While it may seem quite basic,  it turns out that a bathroom towel bar is an important piece of hardware.  In fact, go without one for a few weeks and you’ll see what I mean.   If you run into a similar situation as I did or just simply are no longer satisfied with your old towel bar and you want to replace it, the first thing to do is to remove it. This is fairly easy to do and will only require an Allen wrench or maybe a couple of screwdrivers. Its’ actually the bar end holders that permit the towel bar to be affixed firmly to the wall (the bar sits between them) and this is due to set screws that are located under each end holder. By loosening the set screws, the towel bar can be removed from the wall mounts.

Essentially all you need to do is to use the Allen wrench to unscrew the set screws, and at the same time keep your hands on the towel bar.  As you loosen the screws, the bar will also begin to loosen and you will notice the movement and be able to remove the bar.  Then once that is off,  you’ll see the bar end holders are usually screwed into the drywall with phillips or straight drywall screws.  Undo those, and you have the whole contraption apart and off the wall.  The other not so eloquent way to remove it is to have your son or daughter just hang about 30 pound body weight from the bar and it will rip right off.  Ugghhh.

So how do we get back on track with a replacement towel bar?  First you’ll need to fix the drywall and make sure it is either patched or replaced.  This may require a handyman or a contractor if you are no good with drywall work.  If you can do it yourself, plan on it taking about 2 or 3 days before the patching completely dries and the wall can be sanded and painted. Once that is done its on to the next step.

The next step is to mount your new single or double towel bar to the wall. First, you will have to measure the length of the bar from one end holder to the other.  I suggest you mark the drywall lightly during your repair of it and that way you’ll know exactly where the old bar was before.   If you were lucky enough to have studs in your wall exactly where the bar will be attached to the wall you’ll be all set to hang it.  If you are like me though, you have no studs and you need to get some heavy duty drywall anchors to hold up to 75 or 100 lbs.  It is important to note here to do your best to find a sturdy spot on the wall to make sure that the towel bar will be firmly secured. Wet towels can be quite heavy, not to mention the possibility that other kids (like mine) may try to swing themselves from the bar.   You only get one chance when you are installing drywall anchors, so make sure you do it right.  I personally get the butterfly drywall anchors and they seem to work the best.    Remember too, that when screwing in the first wall mount you will have to ensure that it is screwed on tight because it would be difficult to adjust it after you are done.

The next step is to position the level above the wall mount that you have just affixed to the wall and then mark the location for the second wall mount, all the while making sure that it is in level with the first mount. Before screwing the second wall mount securely, it is advisable to confirm first that it is level with the first mount.

The final step is to affix the towel bar onto the wall mounts and ensure that it is firmly attached and the set screws are tightened securely.  This part can be a bit tricky while you are trying to hold the bar up AND tighten the set screws.  Get a helper if you can.

Hopefully you won’t go through what I did with my towel bar bathroom extravaganza.  In the end it all turned out ok even though the patching work I did wasn’t perfect.  Fortunately, I can laugh (now) when I think about this crazy memory.  Towel bars in the bathroom.  Who would have thought they could have caused so much excitement?

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