I am attempting to fix a stainless steel towel rail to an untiled three and a half inch 1930's internal wall in my bathroom. The wall is made from old grey blocks that were made out of glass, metal, coal etc. The towel rail  is a stainless steel 1340mm x 400mm, so quite heavy.

1 Will the wall be able to support the weight of this towel rail?

2 I am looking to tile the wall, but is there any way of drilling through tiles without breaking them or should I drill first, affix the towel rail and then tile?

Thanks

Get some tile drilling bits - these have pointed spade ends rather than twisted flutes. Start small, move up to larger sizes.

Drill S-L-O-W-L-Y. As Wolf says, no hammer, just nice and gentle. Don't apply a lot of pressure.

You just need to get thru the tile - don't try drilling deep into the wall with the tile bits 'cos it will seriously harm them (and you won't make a lot of progress!).

Drill the size which is slightly oversize for the rawlplugs you need to insert. Then change to a masonry bit to drill into the wall.

Insert rawlplug, gently tap into hole. Doesn't matter too much if the rawlplug is flush with the tile surface, though typically you'd punch it down to be level with the surface of the wall.

That should be fine. What you must avoid is any weight from the screw pushing sideways against the tile - tiles will crack and split if they get any sideways pressure.

You might want to smear a little silicon on the back of the mounting lugs so that there is something between the mounting lug and the tile. The purpose here is to give a tiny cushion between tile and mounting lug, as metal against tile isn't ideal. The silicon will form a thin washer and smooth out any minor imperfections. Don't overtighten the screws.

Job's a good 'un.

HM

Alternatively, take out the rawlplug and insert one of the right size

HM

Actually I have to admit that I don't use straight rawlplugs any more - I buy the slightly more expensive plugs that have small barbs sticking out, as the plug is pushed into the hole these barbs prevent the plug from turning.

HM

Thanks people.. Much appreciated.

The old way of drilling into glazed tiles is to hold the drill bit (in the drill) against the tile and slowly rotate it backwards and forwards to break the glaze.
Once the glaze has been broken through drill as normal (no hammer)

club hammer and bolster works for me...ooops sorry thats mosaic tiling ain't it!!!!
LOL

thanks wolf, thats the answer i was looking for, the best make in the business