Grab bar installation in a tiled shower.

Hi, I'm looking for the best practice for mounting a grab bar in a Travertine tiled shower with 1/2 blue-board behind it. I doubt I'll be able to find a stud. Some vids show a screw called a "Wall Dog", but I'm not sure. The grab bar packages come with plastic molly inserts if you don't hit a stud, but I'm not too sure about their safe holding power.

Any advise will be appreciated

 

Backing or studs is obviously preferred. Toggles would be next best but in a shower you will have leakage potential if you use toggles or anchors. I'd recommend you go to home depot and get a tube of KerdiFix and glue them on. Use an anchor to hold it up, or just brace it to the opposite wall until it's fully cured. 7 days is a good rule of thumb. Be sure you've cleaned the area properly with denatured alcohol and that it's dry before you apply it. You might also want to mask the area with painters tape first... then hold up the grab bar, draw around the mounts with a pen, then cut on that line with a knife, and remove the tape in that circle... this will limit any squeeze out that gets on your travertine. You will just be able to cut it off and pull off the tape. You don't want to smear any sealant on the travertine or use any thinners to clean up a mess of caulk.

 

Finding studs in a shower at the exact location needed for a grab bar is probably not going to happen. They make several ADA rated mounting systems that allow the bar to be installed without a stud. I have installed a couple different varieties have not seen this one but it looks interesting!

Do not fall for the suction cup style, those things are an accident waiting to happen, I cant believe they allow them to be sold.

https://www.grab-bar.com/products/th...nt=38990952780

 

What's on the other side of the wall? If it's another room or a closet, you can probably locate studs and then carefully transfer the measurements to the shower side. To verify, drill a small hole in the tile up close to the ceiling so it's not very noticeable and you won't have leakage up that high. Just stay a couple inches down from the ceiling to make sure you don't hit the top plate which would make you think you hit a stud.

 

I managed to get some glass-installer suction cups, those work great.
Agreed about the limits of the standard suction cup handholds, at least as to tile. I've found that for a smooth plastic shower insert, and for a glass door, they retain suction quite well.

 

Thank you all for your great suggestions. I ended up taking three strong earth magnets stacked together and I was able to detect the screws that are used to fasten the blue-board, thus location the studs.