Adding fittings to a wall

Certain bathroom fittings such as hooks, soap dishes and rings are made as ceramic-tile inserts. However, you may wish to add screwed-on towel rails or similar fittings.

To drill a tile, first mark the hole position in chinagraph pencil, then with a hard pointed tool (a centre punch or hole-boring tool), make a dimple in the tile. This will score the surface as a starting point for your masonry drill.

To prevent the drill point from slipping when starting up, cover the area with masking tape, and drill through this using the dimple point as a starting guide.

To prevent the tile from cracking when tightening a screw fixing, make sure that the wall plug is fully seated in the wall behind the tile. Tightening a screw expands the plug in the hole. If the plug is still seated within the tile, the tile may crack.