Bathroom Towel Bar Is Loose – Fix It

If your bathroom towel bar is not screwed directly into the wood studs, over time it may loosen or fall out. If the towel bar has pulled out of the wall, there is an easy way to fix this yourself.

This is usually because the drywall that the towel bar is attached to has gotten loose, meaning the holes in the drywall have gotten bigger and the anchors are not securing the towel bar to the wall anymore.

Whether you need to reinstall an existing towel bar or install a brand new one, we will show you how to do this even if the holes in the wall are damaged.

towel bar pulled from wallBathroom towel bar loose

Fix a Bathroom Towel Bar That Is Loose

  1. Remove the old or broken towel bar from your wall.
  2. Use a cordless drill and make the existing holes in the wall larger so you can put in toggle bolts.
  3. Put the toggle bolts on the towel bar mounting hardware by sliding the screw into the mounting hole and threading the spring loaded piece onto the other side.
  4. Slide the spring loaded part of the toggle bolt into the wall far enough so it can spring open.
  5. Tighten the toggle bolts with a screwdriver until they are snug. (do not over tighten)
  6. Attach one of the towel bar brackets to the wall by tightening a small screw with a flat screwdriver.
  7. Put the towel bar into the towel bar holder bracket you just attached.
  8. Put the other end of the towel bar into the other bracket and then secure that bracket to the wall. (if you put both towel bar holder brackets on the wall before the actual towel bar, there will not be enough space for it to slide in)

Use a toggle bolt to fix loose bathroom towel barUse a toggle bolt to fix loose bathroom towel bar

Use Toggle Bolts To Fix The Towel Bar

Toggle bolts are best to use in this situation when the drywall is damaged. Most of the time when a bathroom towel bar becomes loose it is because the screws holding it to the wall, and the holes in the wall have been stretched out or have gotten bigger with time. The best thing to do if this is the case, meaning the hole in the drywall is extra large now, is to always use a toggle bolt as that will help secure the towel bar on the wall even though the drywall has large holes in it.

The image above is of a toggle bolt which will work well in this situation.


Bathroom towel bar repair

If you know of an easier way to repair or fix a towel bar that has fallen out of the wall, please leave a comment below.

3 thoughts on “Bathroom Towel Bar Is Loose – Fix It”

  1. Hi, thank you for your video in installing a shaky towel bar rack! I have a similar situation, but was thinking about using a metal anchor that comes with a screw and a metal washer. The new metal anchor( sturdier?) fits nicely in the hole, but my question is where do I place the washer? behind the bracket against the anchor, or between the screw and the bracket? Thank you very much!

  2. My towel bar has also pulled out of the wall, but there was some bolt or other thing attached to the screw, which left a bigger hold in the wall. So, I got the toggle bolt, but I had to use the smaller 1/8 inch) one because the bigger one (1/4 inch) was too big and the screw was too long.
    So, here’s the thing, the toggle bolt is only slightly bigger than the hold in the wall, what I’m afraid of is that it’ll only be a matter of time before the wall gives away and the toggle bolt comes out. Is there any way to reinforce the wall? I thought that maybe I would just use some duct tape, but that’s only a temporary measure.

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