Hot-tears come splashin on down.

[reddragdiva]

• The regular London Fetish Fair is moving from Shillibeer's and so won't be on in October. The new location is N1 0AU, conveniently placed nowhere in particular (about ten minutes' walk from Kings Cross or Caledonian Road; if only York Road were reopened yet).

The house is resisting the DIY. I approached the bathroom with a fully-charged drill, a masonry bit and a look of grim, steely, manly determination last night and tried making holes in the bathroom wall for the shower fitting. (The sort that you stick over the taps; this is for the rail to stick the showerhead on.) I even tried drilling through the grouting, not the tiles themselves. Three minutes of furious grinding noises (fnarr) to no effect other than a silvery blemish in the grouting.

Guess what? The "grouting" appears to be the glue holding the tiles on. The wall has a sheet of metal behind it. So does the other wall over the bathtub.

My questions are: 1. Ideas on how to attach the shower fitting? Bonus points for removability at end of tenancy. 2. WHY???

Comments

[cookwitch.livejournal.com]

Masonry bit for the tiles and then drill throgh that with a metal bit - check with the landlord first though, you never know, he might be able to shed some light as to why on earth there is metal behind the tiles!

[reddragdiva]

The whole place was renovated to rental quality using what appear to be '70s leftovers from MFI. The only reason it's any good is that Warner flats were bloody well built in the first place, which is why they're a good deal and worth buying to do up properly (though the acoustically-transparent floor between ground and top floors is annoying).

[cookwitch.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think Ilike Steer's idea on asking the landlord if he will fit it seeing as you bought it and he gets to keep it when you leave.

[steer.livejournal.com]

The solution I went for was that I agreed to buy a shower if the landlord agreed to fit it. I have a shower in my flat -- they get to keep it when I leave -- win/win situation.

I don't usually wuss out of DIY ism but the combination of water/electricity/incompetence might prove challenging to me.

[simonb.livejournal.com]

And these days you can't actually install an electrically powered shower unless you're a certified electrician :(

[redcountess]

This isn't a power shower, it's just a fit on the taps plastic thing with a riser - the riser is what we're trying to affix.

As for the landlord, he never replied to the original letter we sent last December about the shower and other issues with the flat. We sent a follow up in the new year, and that was ignored as well.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

No More Nails. They do stupid things, you do stupid things, and you can always break the relevant tiles and replace them when you leave.

[reddragdiva]

No More Nails is apparently not waterproof and not recommended for wet or damp areas ... OTOH, it sounds like the best answer for now. I'd like to know what it actually is (I can't find out from Google), because every commercial glue has a solvent ...

[redcountess]

And there's spare tiles under the back stairs, IIRC.

[reddragdiva]

No More Nails it is then!

[poggs.livejournal.com]

Reopen York Road.

[vatine]

So, what you want is something to keep the shower rod sufficiently well in place? Some sort of expandable metal pole, trussed between floor and ceiling, with either the shower-head-holder or the shower rod thingie attached to it would possibly work.

Expandable poles are usually sold to keep shower curtains up, but should work well in a vertical mount as well as in a horizontal mount.

[reddragdiva]

The rod is a short rod (about 30cm) with screwholes at either end to attach to a wall. Its purpose is to hold a soap dish and a thing the shower head slots into.

[vatine]

Yes? You get yourself a pole to keep the rod in place.
Alternatively, if it's decent steel, get yourself some STRONG MAGNETS(!) for taht mad scientist feel.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

No LFF this month? But I need toys!

[reddragdiva]

I want another of the leather wristband I got last time - he only had the one this time.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I want things that go buzz in the night!

[reddragdiva]

I DO NOT WISH TO THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS AT THE LFF EVER AGAIN KTHX BYE.

(I am so not a size queen. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)

Size-queening

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

I so am, but lifesize horse-willies are just plain freaky.

Re: Size-queening

[reddragdiva]

Big ones are jolly good fun, but sometimes enough is quite enough!

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

get a selection of drill bits for various substances and try them until one works... and get a corded drill. cordless ones often lack torque. i would continue trying to drill the grout, and just drill through the metal - who cares why it's there, really, as long as your holes don't leak. it's probably an el-cheapo alternative to proper waterproofing...

when you leave, get some waterproof grout and fill the holes with that.

[reddragdiva]

Indeed. There are various other holes in the tiles that someone's tried to make and had to fill in.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Really really big suction cups?

Hooks from the ceiling, which might not have sheet metal in it?

*shrug*

[reddragdiva]

I'm tempted to the latter for the shower curtain rail!

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

That "nowhere in particular" looks very close to the Egg club (which would be very suitable for LFF), although the postcodes are different (N1 0AU vs N7 9AP).

[illuin.livejournal.com]

you should see N1 (20,40) and N7 (170,90) on the map, with nowhere in particular somewhat between them.

[necialma.livejournal.com]

specialist drill bit..masonary I think it is called..your local diy store should be able to help

[reddragdiva]

I was using a masonry bit. Looks like I'll need a metal one ;-)

[mendel.livejournal.com]

Rare earth magnets! Or, if this is the bar that a bracket attaches to, and then the showerhead goes in that bracket (that's not the sort of thing we usually get in over here), clamp a gooseneck onto the shower curtain rail and then put the showerhead bracket on the end of the gooseneck.

[reddragdiva]

Excellent idea! Now I just have to attach the shower curtain rail to the same walls ...

[mendel.livejournal.com]

Lower it from the ceiling.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

You're quite, quite sure that you're not trying to drill into a cable conduit? Or a structural steel member of the building?

[reddragdiva]

No and no. It's metal all the way across both walls as far as the blemishes can tell.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Tile bit then metal bit then possibly masonry bit depending on what's behind the metal. Make sure your drill (if it's cordless) is fully charged.

Also, you want some masking tape. Mark where you want your holes, put an X of masking tape over the mark, then drill through the masking tape. It provides enough grip that the tip of the tile bit doesn't skitter all over while you're trying to get the hole started on shiny-glazed tiles. (Yes, I have drilled a lot of holes in the walls in my kitchen, why do you ask?)