Will we be able to clean off "nie wieder bohren" adhesive?
December 1, 2013 11:33 AM Subscribe
Our rental apartment has a tile-covered shower but no built-in curtain rod. Right now we are making do with a spring tension rod that collapses at the lightest touch. I am considering purchasing the Rotator Rod and installing it with the No-Drilling Required Adapters for Hard Surfaces that uses the "nie wieder bohren" semi-permanent adhesive to attach. I am concerned it might be difficult to remove when we move out of the apartment months or years later. Do you have any experiences or advice that might inform this decision?
Response by poster: The premise is that the landlord would probably want me to remove it.
posted by grouse at 12:08 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by grouse at 12:08 PM on December 1, 2013
How old is your current curtain rod? I've lived with the tension variety for years and mine stays up pretty reliably as in it has never come down and it currently holds two curtains, a nice one and a white plain liner one.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:12 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:12 PM on December 1, 2013
I too have a tension rod that holds two curtains. You have to get it pretty tight and it might take some effort to get it into place. If it's collapsing that easily, there's not enough tension on it (or it's simple too small).
posted by ancient star at 12:32 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by ancient star at 12:32 PM on December 1, 2013
Tile is probably the best thing to use the non permanent adhesive on as sticking things to glazed tile is pretty hard to do. When I had the same problem I used 3m double stick heavy duty outdoor tape on both ends of the spring rod and it stopped the rod from being knocked down.
posted by Mitheral at 1:15 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by Mitheral at 1:15 PM on December 1, 2013
I would just buy a new spring-tension rod. They normally work perfectly fine, it's just that after several years they sometimes wear out. Perhaps yours is old, or you are just unlucky and got a crappy one. A new one will cost maybe half the price of that Rotator Rod, not even including the adapters, and will probably serve you perfectly well for the duration of your stay in the apartment.
Also, and I apologize if this sounds stupid, but have you tried just increasing the tension on your spring rod? As in, did you take it out of the shower, give it some extra turns to make it longer, and then squish it back in there? A properly-installed spring rod should be adjusted such that you can just barely squish it down to fit in the space. Sometimes people will try putting it in the space and then turning it until it seems like it's in there, but that doesn't really work very well. You want to take it out, make it longer such that it almost doesn't compress enough to go back, and then stuff it back in. If your rod isn't actually worn out or broken then this will probably solve your problem right there!
Heck, even if it *is* worn out or broken you could probably just jam some shims in on the ends of the rod to tighten it up. Get some squares or circles of rubber or silicone or plastic or really anything that won't immediately disintegrate in the shower, and stick them in between the rod and the wall or else inside the caps on the rod. This will effectively make the rod a bit longer, which will tighten things up and help it stay in place better. You can probably make some perfectly good shims out of some random crap that's lying around the house without spending a dime.
posted by Scientist at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2013
Also, and I apologize if this sounds stupid, but have you tried just increasing the tension on your spring rod? As in, did you take it out of the shower, give it some extra turns to make it longer, and then squish it back in there? A properly-installed spring rod should be adjusted such that you can just barely squish it down to fit in the space. Sometimes people will try putting it in the space and then turning it until it seems like it's in there, but that doesn't really work very well. You want to take it out, make it longer such that it almost doesn't compress enough to go back, and then stuff it back in. If your rod isn't actually worn out or broken then this will probably solve your problem right there!
Heck, even if it *is* worn out or broken you could probably just jam some shims in on the ends of the rod to tighten it up. Get some squares or circles of rubber or silicone or plastic or really anything that won't immediately disintegrate in the shower, and stick them in between the rod and the wall or else inside the caps on the rod. This will effectively make the rod a bit longer, which will tighten things up and help it stay in place better. You can probably make some perfectly good shims out of some random crap that's lying around the house without spending a dime.
posted by Scientist at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2013
"I am concerned it might be difficult to remove when we move out of the apartment months or years later."
Eight years remodeler here. I wouldn't use it. "The Revolution in Attachment Technology" sets off alarms.
I would recommend a strong shower rod and damn near any adhesive. Bubble Yum might prevail. [Seriously, not kidding].
The weak point isn't in the attachment, the weak point is in how the shower rod interacts with with the walls it's attached to. [Think bridge here]
Anyway very few substances penetrate ceramic tile so I think your risk for not being able to remove the adhesive means don't use marine caulk or epoxy.
Good luck.
posted by vapidave at 5:34 PM on December 1, 2013
Eight years remodeler here. I wouldn't use it. "The Revolution in Attachment Technology" sets off alarms.
I would recommend a strong shower rod and damn near any adhesive. Bubble Yum might prevail. [Seriously, not kidding].
The weak point isn't in the attachment, the weak point is in how the shower rod interacts with with the walls it's attached to. [Think bridge here]
Anyway very few substances penetrate ceramic tile so I think your risk for not being able to remove the adhesive means don't use marine caulk or epoxy.
Good luck.
posted by vapidave at 5:34 PM on December 1, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks for the responses! I am not interested in getting the existing tension rod to work. I would rather have the Rotator Rod than any other rod.
Really I want to know whether I will be able to effectively remove the adhesive and any residue at the end of use, not how to make adjustments to what I have.
posted by grouse at 6:52 PM on December 1, 2013
Really I want to know whether I will be able to effectively remove the adhesive and any residue at the end of use, not how to make adjustments to what I have.
posted by grouse at 6:52 PM on December 1, 2013
I am not interested in getting the existing tension rod to work. I would rather have the Rotator Rod than any other rod.
Okay, this is a pretty cool thing that I would like to have, too. If I found out that the adhesive is permanent I would check to see if Sugru could handle the weight of the rod (plus a few towels) either directly or with the adapter plate.
The premise is that the landlord would probably want me to remove it.
Can you ask? The landlord might look at it as an improvement, especially if the reason you don't have a shower curtain rod is that they just didn't want to deal with installing one.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:41 PM on December 1, 2013
Okay, this is a pretty cool thing that I would like to have, too. If I found out that the adhesive is permanent I would check to see if Sugru could handle the weight of the rod (plus a few towels) either directly or with the adapter plate.
The premise is that the landlord would probably want me to remove it.
Can you ask? The landlord might look at it as an improvement, especially if the reason you don't have a shower curtain rod is that they just didn't want to deal with installing one.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:41 PM on December 1, 2013
in my experience, ceramic tile can have just about anything cleaned off of it.
it can handle most super-harsh cleansers, CLR, acetone, lacquer remover are all things I've used on glazed ceramic tile... and there's not a lot of adhesives that last through those. if they do, tile can take a hell of a scraping without getting too scratched.
I think you'd be fine.
also, I've replaced tons of things like ugly shelves and light fixtures and shower rods that were rusty and stuff in apartments, and I've never had a landlord fuss (or usually notice) generally, if it's unequivocally an improvement, no one cares.
posted by euphoria066 at 11:08 AM on December 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
it can handle most super-harsh cleansers, CLR, acetone, lacquer remover are all things I've used on glazed ceramic tile... and there's not a lot of adhesives that last through those. if they do, tile can take a hell of a scraping without getting too scratched.
I think you'd be fine.
also, I've replaced tons of things like ugly shelves and light fixtures and shower rods that were rusty and stuff in apartments, and I've never had a landlord fuss (or usually notice) generally, if it's unequivocally an improvement, no one cares.
posted by euphoria066 at 11:08 AM on December 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
OK, you want to have the Rotator Rod for its own sake, fair enough. In that case I think you'll be fine with the attachment system that it uses. If it's supposed to remove without causing surface damage, and you're gluing onto tile, then I think it's pretty safe. As others have said tile (glazed tile especially) is really good about not getting permanently screwed up by adhesives. Also, there has been a whole rash of glues coming out recently that are much better about sticking when you want them and coming off cleanly when you're done than the glues of yore.
I would be even happier if this "nie wieder bohren" stuff actually explained what it is, chemically speaking. Irritatingly, they seem to be keeping a really tight grip on their proprietary whatever-it-is. All I can find on its site is that one option for removing it is to use silicone remover, so presumably it's a silicone-based adhesive. For all I know it's just a tiny tube of regular silicone caulking with a huge markup attached, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
From my experiences working with silicone caulk in tiled bathrooms and kitchens (where it's the caulking of choice as it is waterproof) it should probably perform as advertised. It should stick very well for a long time, and then as long as it's been applied to a nonporous surface like glazed tile (I'd try to avoid grout if possible, but it's not the end of the world if you have tiny tiles or whatever) you should be able to peel or gently scrape it off quite easily later on without leaving any mark.
That's a long way of saying that I think you'll be good to go here and that if you want to do this you should proceed without fear.
posted by Scientist at 4:57 PM on December 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I would be even happier if this "nie wieder bohren" stuff actually explained what it is, chemically speaking. Irritatingly, they seem to be keeping a really tight grip on their proprietary whatever-it-is. All I can find on its site is that one option for removing it is to use silicone remover, so presumably it's a silicone-based adhesive. For all I know it's just a tiny tube of regular silicone caulking with a huge markup attached, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
From my experiences working with silicone caulk in tiled bathrooms and kitchens (where it's the caulking of choice as it is waterproof) it should probably perform as advertised. It should stick very well for a long time, and then as long as it's been applied to a nonporous surface like glazed tile (I'd try to avoid grout if possible, but it's not the end of the world if you have tiny tiles or whatever) you should be able to peel or gently scrape it off quite easily later on without leaving any mark.
That's a long way of saying that I think you'll be good to go here and that if you want to do this you should proceed without fear.
posted by Scientist at 4:57 PM on December 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by carmicha at 12:07 PM on December 1, 2013