Curved Shower Rods In TIle Showers

Lately, I think I installed over a dozen curved shower rods this year so far and I think they are great. For your information, these are going into homes and condos from every economic stripe. In older neighborhoods, Downtown Dallas Highrise Condos, Country Ranch, Highland Park, Coppell, Plano, Allen and all over. These are replacing expensive frameless glass going into many a bathroom overhaul. I am going to share with you some economical solutions to some potentially expensive design issues over the course of many future blog posts. See my Nov. 2011 post on Curved Shower Rods,

This example is exactly like one I installed recently and matched the rest of the plumbing which was Brushed Stainless with two rods. It Is simpler to install these with two people but I manage to do most of my work by myself, but I've done a lot of them as I said.



One difficult task is drilling the screw holes into the tile. Especially Porcelain Tile.

If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to drill 1/4 inch holes in your Porcelain Tile to affix the Curved Shower Rod Mounts, I have found the best bit is a Rigid 1/4 inch Boring Bit.





This bit has a hole in the middle and you will be actually coring a hole into the porcelain. The outside edge of the bit is covered with Carbide. You must be very careful not to spin it up too fast or let it get hot. If you run that bit at high speed with no cooling you will destroy it in seconds. The same is true for the regular ceramic paddle type bits. You will have real trouble drilling a hole when you get that bit so hot the welds melt and the carbide tips break off inside the hole you are drilling. Then you will really have problems and possibly need to replace the tile.



 More TIPS on the bit-

I use the Rigid 1/4 inch Ceramic Boring Bit. Some come with a little plastic contraption that is supposed to allow you to fill this container with water and drill your holes somehow. Throw that in the trash. Get an old towel and place it below sitting on the tub or anywhere you need to drill directly under where you intend to drill.



Get an empty spray bottle like a Windex bottle for example where you can switch the nozzle to stream. Fill it full of water. You will need to mark your holes and I use a Sharpie. Begin drilling at slow speed holding the bit at an angle so you can get it started, then raise it to parallel and speed up the drilling adding pressure and spraying water into bit and hole at a continual rate. The water keeps the bit cool and washes out the debris. It makes a mess but for a good reason.

If you or whomever has an issue with the muddy water running down the tile wall as you drill you can just tape the towel to the tile just under where you are drilling and it does a good job of collecting the dirty drilling mud.



 The double Rod Shower Rod isn't exactly twice as hard to install as the single but if help is available use it. After installing the mounts you have to take care installing the correct rod in sequence and you always have a 50% chance of getting it right the first time. One problem one can run into is not having enough room to swing the rod into position with other stuff in the way.

The Double Shower Rod has an advantage in that you can hang a decorative curtain on the outside of the shower and the plastic portion can remain on the inside. This will allow you to change the outside curtain should you wish to clean either one or change color or interior design.