Now it’s WAR!!!

[Paul Simmel]

I can build and wire an entire house, I can build and finish beautiful furniture, and I have built my dream custom shower now… but I cannot get a lousy soap dish (with suction cups) to STICK to the polished marble shower wall!

The marble is polished, but it must be slightly porous (though it doesn’t look like it). I have even tried clear silicone applied to the backs of the suction cups… had it all taped up and let it stay that way for 48-hours… and BAM… down she went AGAIN after 3-days. I cleaned everything up real nice too before “installation”.

What is my dang problem! Do I need to apply epoxy, and if so, which kind??? I do not want to drill holes anywhere in my shower, but do want to apply various suction cup racks and shelves… but for God’s sake, I NEED my soap dish!

Can anyone help out this poor idiot?

Thanks in advance,

Signed,

Dumb Dumb

[Dewey Torres]

Paul,
I had this happen at my last house and I wound up using a rotozip (maybe the only thing it was good for) to route the tile enough to where I could get some thin set and grout around it.

That sure as heck fixed it. She still stands today and it is now a RENTAL!

[Robert Parrish]

Have you thought about a tension pole from ceiling to floor that's what I had to do. I bought a nice stainless steel corner unit with soap dishes and shelves.

[David G Baker]

Check out a rack that hangs from the water supply pipe. I never had any success with any of the suction cup devices.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've tried the suction cup devices with little or no success. Like Dewey, in my last tile shower, I designed a corner soap dish into the shower and used thinset to mortar it in. 10 years later it's still there.

[Tim Thomas]

Have you thought about a tension pole from ceiling to floor that's what I had to do. I bought a nice stainless steel corner unit with soap dishes and shelves.

I'll second a vote for the tension pole units. I had the same problem with this cheapo plastic organizer with suction cups (that my wife purchased). That thing would fall off the wall if you so much as looked at it cross-eyed. After about the tenth time I had a can of shaving cream fall on my toe I decided to look at alternatives. The floor-to-ceiling shower units are compact, sturdy, and hold a lot of stuff. There are five shelves on the one we bought and my wife has filled all of them. I have one lonely corner on one shelf for my single bar of soap. :( But, I haven't had a single thing fall on my foot in the shower since I installed this organizer more than 6 months ago. :) Worth every penny, and you won't need to use any tools or drill any holes to make it work.

I think this is the one I have:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=1&SKU=13383006&RN=864

[Ben Franz]

I have a small stick on shelf from BB & B that adheres well to a cultured marble wall surface, even with the LOML's shampoo/conditioner/rinse/whatever collection. Seems like polished marble would be even smoother and a better "stick". Is it sealed?

Been married forever and I still don't get the hair product dichotomy between men and women:confused::confused::confused:.

[Ted Calver]

Haven't I seen Billy Mayes peddling some kind of wonder epoxy on TV ....just for this very thing.......:)

[Belinda Barfield]

Haven't I seen Billy Mayes peddling some kind of wonder epoxy on TV ....just for this very thing.......:)

Yep, Billy Mays Mighty Putty. Gar - on - TEED to hold! It's amazing, and if BIlly says it, it must be true! :D

[Paul Simmel]

LOL

Thanks, everyone. I like the corner pole idea, but as I said, this is war! I want to stick that sucker on there now just for spite. Maybe larger suction cups and more silicone, only this time don't push so hard to leave a fair amount of silicone between the cup and marble.

I don't know if the marble is sealed or not. I don't think it is because I don;t see any residue on the edges on any of the tiles (last job, last marble, had a sealer which was like glass... but you could see it along the edges where it had dripped over some).

I know this is CRAZY... it's a 3$ Walmart chrome soap-dish!

My fish tank is held together with literally with nothing more than a bead of silicone. But it is glass, not rubber.

Maybe some epoxy???

[Dave Lehnert]

Are you a single man? Forget the soap and you won't need a soap dish. LOL!!!

[David G Baker]

Paul,
Is it possible that the suction cup is made out of silicone? If it is, silicone on silicone may not work.

[Paul Simmel]

Are you a single man? Forget the soap and you won't need a soap dish. LOL!!!

Ha ha ha! There's ANOTHER SS rack with all of her stuff on it, and it's staying up! I siliconed that one too, but it has larger cups and I didn't push the cups so hard that all of the silicone sqeazed out (like the soap dish). PLUS, I don;t know if it is going to stay up, but it does not get direct water-flow because it is sort of off to the side. But that may change, too! I'm sort of waiting for the "BAM" in the middle of the night... but thus far (knock on wood) it is staying up.

[Paul Simmel]

Paul,
Is it possible that the suction cup is made out of silicone? If it is, silicone on silicone may not work.

Don't know!

[Paul Simmel]

As a former painter, I know that NOTHING sticks to silicone.

[Neal Clayton]

Yep, Billy Mays Mighty Putty. Gar - on - TEED to hold! It's amazing, and if BIlly says it, it must be true! :D

billy mays better watch out, the shamwow guy is gunning for him...

plus that guy bears a striking resemblance to other celebrities so he has the upper hand...

[Paul Simmel]

Hey, I'm going to try those sticky hook-things that you can peel the back off of and stick just about anywhere. The wire grid soup dish would hang from the hooks. I'd remove the cups. What do you think?

[Mark Engel]

I have one word for you.

Soaponarope.

[Paul Simmel]

But I like my Irish Spring!!!

[Sonny Edmonds]

Are you a single man? Forget the soap and you won't need a soap dish. LOL!!!

Yep, I second Dave here.
And I'm not single.
I use my shampoo for everything in the shower.
That's right, everything... :p

Marble is porous, so suction cups are out.
The suction cups are probably silicone, or the type of plastic the glue don't stick to.
So go back up to David's post and go get a hanging rack for your showerhead supply pipe. Done!

Oh, and your suction cup soap holder might work in the car to hold cookies to go with your coffee. (Or a donut...) :D

[Scott Conners]

Get some high quality packing tape. Clean the wall with solvent and let dry. Apply pieces of packing tape where the suction cups go. *Carefully* score the tape in a circle slightly larger than the suction cups and remove waste. Avoid scoring the marble. This lets you handle the tape's corners only, avoiding oils underneath the circle. Let bond for a few hours minumum, and then suction on your dish.

I've also used 3m's awesome outdoor weatherproof double sided tape to hold up mirrors in showers, paper towel racks under sinks, etc. It's usually grey or clear, and is truly sticky.

[Paul Simmel]

Thank you Scott, some good tips there. So far that plastic sticky-hook (as a test) is still holding.

[David DeCristoforo]

...sucker! The little suction cup thingies don't work! They are just there to suck you into buying them. Even if you get them to stick as soon as you put anything in the tray it starts sliding down the wall! How do I know this? because I got sucked in too!

[James Stokes]

Your best bet would be to remove the suction cups. The put some foam double sided tape on the soap dish. Then put a couple dabs of silicone on the soap dish. The tape will hold untill the silicone sets

[Rick Potter]

Do the suction cups have a tab on the back that goes through an opening on the rack? If so, perhaps you can pop off the cups, drill the shower for plastic moly's and use stainless screws, with silicone to seal the holes.

Not dumb dumb, but I am the.......

Village Idiot

[Kelly Craig]

You can buy epoxy by the quart from granite stores. It runs around fourteen dollars a quart. Not bad when you consider what it cost for the small two part mix syringes. This is the same stuff they use to assemble granite, marble and other counter tops and such.

[Paul Simmel]

Thanks, but no holes allowed. I built the shower using the Kerdi System, so there is 100 % water-proof membrane behind the marble up and down all walls.

[Paul Simmel]

So far that sticky-thingy is holding, and I only put one on there as a test!

[Craig Summers]

Thanks, but no holes allowed. I built the shower using the Kerdi System, so there is 100 % water-proof membrane behind the marble up and down all walls.

Any problems with Kerdi?

My BIL used the system on a 2nd floor shower, it ended up leaking, and he had to rip out the bottom and do-over. Turned out that the Styrofoam sloping drain pan was not stiff enough over a 1 layer wood subfloor. I helped him pour concrete in to replace the styrofoam. Installed a new Kerdi sheet over the drainpan. So far, no more leaks.

FWIW, i used Ditra under my tiles in the bathroom. No problems from that.

[Paul Simmel]

Kerdi was a dream! Used the 4 x 4 foam pan, followed instructions to the tee, thin-set was Versa-Bond. Can't imagine a leak, let alone see one. Died-in-the-wool old-timer mud-floaters are seeing the light every day.

Other than SawMill, here's the other best Forum on the 'Net:

http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

[David G Baker]

Paul,
I don't think your path to another forum will last long cause it is a no no to post them. You are right about the forum. I put into my favorites.