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Kids in the batrhoom
Quick question. Which do you think is safer in a kid's bathroom: a tension shower curtain rod or a metal rod with brackets drilled into the tiled walls?
Originally we weren't going to tile all the way to ceiling and I had bought a one piece brass shower curtain rod that fits in these flanges:
They are both very solid and sturdy feeling I love them! Drilling into the drywall is no big deal but now we need to drill into tile which DH has done half a dozen times now but it's still worrisome that a tile might crack.
Now DH is also worried that our future kids might hang on it and damage the wall or rod. I see his point but along the same lines the tension rod almost seems more dangerous because it can't hold near as much wight and could fall on their head. I think the fabric of the shower curtain or the hooks might ripe/deflect before a brass rod does. Not sure how the stress would affect the flanges or the tiled wall. Of course I also prefer the look of the fixed one and the fact that it's all one piece (no annoying step in the middle of the rod) too.
Anyone with kids have any experience with this?
Re: Kids in the batrhoom
The tension rods do fall down occasionally, although in my experience it's pretty rare (it's usually the steam that causes them to slip off). One option is use some (removable) adhesive pads, attach those to the tile and then "stick" the tension rod to them. I've done this and it worked well.
I too would be leery of drilling into the tile. Could you drill just outside of the tile, onto the wall?
I don't have any kids, but I have experience being one - and hanging on a shower curtain rod.
That kind is better than the tension kind. Far better. Much sturdier. As an adult, I nearly fell out of the tub once and I grabbed the shower curtain. On that type of rod, it held. Had it been on a tension rod, the curtain and I both would have bit it onto a tile floor.
Ditto this. Every word.
ETA: Baby Q likes to tug on the curtain & use it to play peek-a-boo when he's taking a bath. He's not strong enough to yank it down yet, but one day I'll be glad we have a fixed rod.
I have both kinds in my house.
The ones drilled into the wall are much safer and sturdier IMO.
Our MB shower has a tension rod and while Rubes doesn't hang from the rod or do anything overly destructive she does swing the fabric back and forth while she sits on the floor/stands by the shower.
I fear someday she will pull the whole thing down.
My two that are drilled I don't even think about.
It's probably all mental as it would take a lot to pull a tension rod down too...but to me it's safer.
Monica: No we can't put the rod in front of the tile because my husband wanted to extend the tile a little past the tub. It is tile all the way to the corner of the wall on one side. We just installed the wallbar for the handheld shower which required 3 holes being drilled and we had to drill a couple into the floor for the toilet (same tile as the wall) and none of them cracked so fingers crossed we would have the same results!
Jacinthe: Another very good point. I would much prefer to grab onto a shower curtain hanging from a solid bar.
Dr.Girlfriend: LOL my initial response to DH was "What are we going to be raising little hellions? My kids will be taught better than that. Besides kids take baths not showers when they are young enough to try to do something like that." Oh and we're going to be using an extra long shower curtain because the shower head is extra high so no kids will be reaching the bar itself.
With all the high end finishes we're putting in this bathroom the last thing I wanted was a plastic tension rod. I bet I can find some nicer looking ones but Menard's didn't have anything I liked.
We both grew up with sliding doors on the shower/tub combo and we're not related to any young kids so I wanted you're expert opinions. : ) Thanks so much!
The ones you drill in would definitely be better, we have a tension one and it's fallen once.
My son is 8 now so he knows not to yank, pull or do anything that would cause the rod to come crashing in on him.
My 3-year-ol daughter has been taught that if she pulls or plays with the curtain or rod, her beloved owl curtain will be taken down, with the rod, and she'll never get it back again.
One time when I was little, my bathroom had a tension rod. And it fell on me.
So I vote for the other kind.
This.
I agree
Husband? is that you?
He drove me crazy with the curtain rod. We actually bought and returned two shower rods, installed one, took it back out and ended up putting in something very like what you PIPed. (where's that from btw?) The ones in stores are extremely limited and the the flimsy nature and crappy finish on both the tension mount and screw ins they carry at the big box stores bothered him.
I don't have kids yet, but obviously we're going with the non-tension mount kind. Drilling holes in the tile sucks, but I think we're pretty good at it at this point. And if the futurechildren hang on the shower rod hard enough to rip the flange and a tile out of the wall...well...that's a long way off. We'll figure it out then.
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Haha no it's just me over thinking everything like usual. Well I wasn't even considering this one until DH pointed it out.
I got the flanges and rod from Amazon here. They are both from Gatco. I really liked their towel bars, tp holder, and hooks so I went ahead and got the shower curtain rod and flanges too. I liked the exposed screws because our PB pivot mirror has them too.
Why did this post get a star?! Man this board is way too slow.
We have a tension rod and haven't had any problems with it. He doesn't shower often yet since he's only 5, but when he does, the curtain doesn't register with him.
The middle of the rod is hard to get the curtain over sometimes, but we usually leave it open so that the liner can dry out fast and not get grody.
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