I have slate tile on a wall in my bathroom and I want to mount a couple of robe hooks on this wall. My plan was to use a couple of spring toggles, as the wall is approaching 1" thick with the tile and backer board behind it. There are no studs where I want the robe hooks mounted.
The problem I've got is that the two holes in the robe hook bracket are only 5/8" apart on center. The smallest spring toggle available is 1/8", which requires a 3/8" hole to be drilled. I'm worried that drilling a couple of 3/8" holes through the tile that close together – leaving only about 1/4" of tile between the holes, edge to edge – will cause the tile to crack.
I know I can offset the holes a little bit to leave more material between the holes, but I don't have much wiggle room there either without the hole being exposed outside of the hook itself. At best, I might be able to leave 1/2" between the holes.
Any other suggestions from anyone? I'd really like to get away with drilling some smaller holes, but as far as I can find, I don't have that option with any other types of anchors that I can find. Or maybe I give up drilling all together and use some sort of adhesive?
This is the hook I plan to use
Best Answer
You could use a toggle for one of the holes and a very small masonry screw for the other. The toggle will be doing all the heavy lifting, the small masonry screw will just be there for looks and to keep the robe hook from rotating.
Spax and other brands make small screws that can be used for light loads in masonry without an anchor. The smaller sizes require only a 1/8" or 5/32" pilot hole. That would give you about a quarter inch between holes.