On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:50:39 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Dec 22, 7:27*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
Heather Mills wrote:
We have an old house. In one bathroom, there is a towel rack attached
to the tile wall right over the tub. It's a terrible place for a towel
rack and it has bugged me for years. I am reluctant to remove it
myself, because it's attached to the tile with what looks like the
same cement (grout?) that they use to attach the tiles. The cement is
white and very hard, like grout.

I tried tapping it with a sharpened screwdriver and a hammer. I was
able to chip away some of the cement, but I am worried about cracking
or scratching the tile underneath.

Is there a good way to remove the towel rack?

You might consider the Harbor Freight Multifunction Twitching Tool with a
diamond blade. Even a regular blade will cut through grout.

Be aware that whatever you do will end up looking worse than the current
situation.

* Even IF the towel rack is merely glued to the tile, getting all the
grout/glue off the tile without shattering or marring the underlying tile
will be almost impossible.

* Most likely, the towel rack supports are attached to the wall and the tile
fitted around the supports. If this is the case, you'll have to match the
tile.

If it was me, I'd invest in a decorative shower curtain and call it good.

"*Most likely, the towel rack supports are attached to the wall
and the tile fitted around the supports. If this is the case, you'll
have to match the tile."

That depends on what you mean by "attached to the wall" and no, you
don't have to match the tile.

In my case (1956 house) the towel rack and soap dish were attached in
the following manner:

A hole was cut in the wallboard, newspaper was stuffed into the cavity
(interesting reading, by the way) and cement was crammed into the
hole. The fixtures had keyed extensions so that when the cement spread
out behind the wallboard and into the notches on the fixtures, it held
them in place.

One of the websites mentioned something like this. It said that the
porcelain support was likely hollow. It suggested whacking it with the
*handle* of a hammer, but it wasn't clear if they were trying to break
it free from the wall or just break it.

Since I am not trying to save the rack, I think I'll try drilling into
the base to see if it's hollow. If it is, I can cut or break off the
end and then I'll be able to see how it's attached and get at the glue
from inside.