Why do so many houses and apartments only have one rack to hang a bath towel?

Carry an over-the-door multiple hook bar in your suitcase.

Or this one

You know, slightly off-topic, but a lot of times when I’m in my friends’ apartments, I have noticed only one rack, usually with a bath towel, as opposed to hand towels. I never know quite where to dry my hands, so I either: a) use the bath towel, or b) wipe my hands on my pants. 99% of the time, I opt for “a.” However, what’s the etiquette?

In apartments, I guess it probably has to do with making it easier to repaint – and the comfort of the tenant is not always the top priority. If I have only one rack, and there is room for another, I just install one myself. They are not terribly expensive, and I’ve never had any complaints.

I can’t think why a homeowner would choose to have fewer than it seems are necessary.

I have always wondered the same thing myself. There aren’t enough, and they often aren’t located in a convenient spot. When our parents built their home in 1963, they had several towel bars installed in both bathrooms. Later, they added a floor stand in the guest bathroom that has three bars. They also had linen closets built in each bathroom for clean sheets and towels.

In my house, the master bathroom is large: double sink, two walk-in closets and a linen closet. Yet there is only one towel bar, and it’s located across from the toilet, far away from the shower and sinks. Whoever came up with that design (and lived with it before I moved in) wasn’t thinking logically.

@gailcalled Not a bad idea. In FL, and other very humid places, during the summer, a hook is not the best solution, because it doesn’t let the towel dry as well. For travel it’s better than nothing. Still, why do so many bathrooms not have a towel rack thought out? Zero bath towel racks in this hall bathroom, and there is wall space for a rack. So odd to me.

@serenityNOW I don’t notice that as much. If I am sleeping over I would use my bath towel to dry my hands. If I am just visiting for a few hours or there is a party of some sort, most people have hand towels out to use. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I just rarely run into it. I like best when they have decorative paper towels for people to use, because I prefer to not wipe my hands where 20 other people have if it is a party. I wouldn’t use someone else’s bath towel, I am too much of a germaphobe for that.

@gailcalled I tried an over-the-door bathroom once. It scratched the paint with repeated opening and closing of the door.

Man, your apartment has two baths, and you’re complaining about no additional towel racks? :p

Seriously though, yeah. My bathroom doesn’t even HAVE one single towel rack. I have no idea how this is decided. Maybe some places leave it to the tenant to install their own rack, or maybe it has to do with the space in the bathroom. Mine is tiny, I’ve seen bigger closets. But in places with big bathrooms, yeah…if there’s room, why not put up one or more racks? :/

It’s not the quantity but the quality of your rack that counts, hence the term “nice rack”…I think.

@ucme Oy, back to titties again.

@Symbeline I won’t be here long enough to bother. Plus, it would need approval I would think? The is a towel bar above the toilet, it is just too low to put a bath towel, they could have just made that higher, but I guess maybe they think it wouldn’t look good? And, as I said there is space on a different wall that is completely empty. This apartment complex is very nice, I have a two car garage, granite counter tops in the kitchen, a screened in terrace, so I’m sure they aren’t trying to save $10 on a towel bar, it doesn’t make sense. Plus, it happens in houses too, I just don’t get it. People live like that in their own house with towels hanging everywhere.

@JLeslie It’s hardly my fault if you read smut into perfectly innocent remarks now is it? ;-}

Jeez, get a standing (heated also) towel bar for your elegant apartment and count your blessings.

@glacial; I didn’t show a link but I use a cheap plastic over-the-door hook in my laundry room and a guest room with no closet. Granted, the doors are wood, but there seems to be no damage. Maybe glue a little moleskin to the underside of the hook where it hits the top of the door.

@gailcalled My point is not the apartment, only that it isn’t a matter of people trying to save money either in their house or apartment. No matter what people seem to not care or think about enough towel hanging space. @glacial had talked about repainting, and @Symbeline about the size of the bathrooms, I just wanted to clarify it is a nice sized apartment with some very nice features, and it is just as absurd here as in some middle class $400k house to not have a reasonable amount of towel racks. I should point out I realize @Symbeline was basically agreeing, I wasn’t being argumentative with her (him?).

Hm. In my home, the wall materials are so thin, that if I tried to hang a wet towel, the rack would be ripped from the wall, leaving gaping holes that would likely allow in all sorts of vermin.

We hang our towels to dry on the shower curtain rod. It works well enough. In fact, we can fit TWO bath towels.

First world problems.

@gailcalled Yeah, I’m sure it depends on how much clearance there is between the door and the frame. It didn’t occur to me that the rack might rub against the frame until it was too late – something I would think about if I wanted to try that again. But it’s not my preferred solution, since towels dry better on a horizontal bar. That was truly a tiny bathroom, which is why I tried the hook. I wouldn’t be able to glue anything to the wall, for the same reason that I wouldn’t want to damage the paint – I’m a renter.

My experience is that landlords don’t even notice if I’ve put up an extra rack. I’m pretty handy and have a good eye for decor, so even if they notice, they probably consider it “value added”.

When I re-did my bathroom last summer I put in two towel racks. However, I don’t hang the big wet bath towel on the towel rack, because I’ve found that it does not dry properly and makes a musty smell when hung against the wall. I hang the wet bath towel on the shower rod, actually on a hanger that has clips on it (like the kind that you get when you buy pants).

Another nice look but one that I chose not to do in my new bathroom is the circular hand towel holder that people usually hang right near the sink.

I agree with @JLeslie, you can never be too rich, too thin or have too many towel bars.