How to Put up a Bathroom Grab Bar

Video Transcript

RON HAZELTON:
Did you know that falls cause more than 5 million injuries and nearly 6,000 deaths each year? More than half of all fall-related deaths occur in the home, right where we feel the safest. Those most at risk are people 65 and older.

According to the Home Safety Council, one in five adults consider the bathroom the most dangerous area in the house when it comes to potential injuries and yet, only one in four families say they have grab bars in their bathrooms.

Now why is that? Well, maybe one reason is that installing grab bars has been, well, a bit of a challenge. Until now, they had to be attached to wall studs and sometimes wall studs just aren't where you need or want them. Now there's a new mounting system from Moen that lets you put a grab bar just about anywhere you want it.

To use this new mounting system which Moen calls Secure Mount, I'll start by placing the bar where I want it. Next, I place these mounting plates on top of the circles I've just drawn and mark the center holes. With an awl, I make a small depression to provide a slip-proof starting point for the drill.

Using an inch-and-a-quarter hole-saw, I place the pilot bit on the center punch mark and bore a hole for each mounting bracket. This oversized wall anchor is the key component in the Secure Mount system. Next, I attach this pole tab to the toggle, push the toggle through the wall, allow it to flip open and pull on the tab.

As I do so, the toggle flattens out against the back side of the wallboard. The pull tab then simply unhooks. Next, I pass a bolt through the center of the mounting plate and screw it into the toggle. As I tighten the bolt, the plate and toggle are pulled securely together.

Now I can mount the grab bar flanges to the plates. Finally, I snap the decorative covers in place, concealing the mounting hardware. Now if you're mounting the grab bar inside a shower or tub enclosure, chances are you'll be dealing with a tile wall surface.

After marking the hole locations, use a center punch to create a small depression that will keep the pilot bit from skating. Then use a carbide grit hole-saw similar to this one, to bore through the tile. [SOUNDS OF DRILLING] Now I've got 50 pounds on here but actually this bar can support up to a 300-pound person.

And the reason it's so strong is that those anchors are spreading the load over a rather large area on the back side of the wallboard. So, if your bathroom doesn't have a grab bar, well now would be a good time to consider it because the job has gotten a whole lot easier.