Replace shower diverter

[Meh]

70's pipes. Went to replace valves, seats, handles, and head in 's bathroom. After about $120 the water still flows out the bathtub spout and with these sucky low-flow "pressure-adding" heads, a little trickle comes out or the showerhead.

Should I just go ahead and chage over to the Moen one-handle type cartridge while I've got the wall open, or just change the apron and keep my shiny new 3-handle kit? I can't see in there very well, but it looks torched on and not screwed.

 

[Ralph]

Personally, I'd change it over. Moen, Delta, whatever. Any name brand is fine.

But before you do that, check the height difference between the showerhead and the valve. There's a minimum "head" required for a diverter to work properly. Make sure it's in spec with the valve you're looking at. If not, you're facing more pain in the ass.

You might also be able to remove some of the guts of the showerhead to make it work properly.

 

[Rugster]

I just did the Moen changeover I don't like having to go through cold to get to the hot then adjust between the two. I guess that's the only way to do a one valve setup.

 

[Jays89YJ]

Copper or galvanized pipes?

 

[Ralph]

Copper or galvanized pipes?

it looks torched on and not screwed.

 

[Jays89YJ]

Ah... Pipes should be ok. Did the valve come with the trim kit?

 

[Meh]

Ah... Pipes should be ok. Did the valve come with the trim kit?

Yep, and it was $10 more than a couple months ago when I was fed up
with 's bitching then. I should have just put the sledge through the wall when I had the right mind to do it right. Time to learn how to sweat pipes - I've done tons of soldering, so it shouldn't be too bad if I don't set the wall on fire.

 

[Rugster]

get soft solder 50/50

You don't want the hard stuff as it is a bitch to melt.

 

[Ralph]

Yep, and it was $10 more than a couple months ago when I was fed up
with 's bitching then. I should have just put the sledge through the wall when I had the right mind to do it right. Time to learn how to sweat pipes - I've done tons of soldering, so it shouldn't be too bad if I don't set the wall on fire.

It's really easy, especially on small lines like that. Just make sure the pipes are dry before you start. Clean the ends, flux, heat, and when the joint sucks the solder in you're good. Hold the torch and solder 180* opposite each other on the pipe.

 

[Meh]

I couldn't find any valve/cartridge units I liked at Homey de Pot before my head started hurting again. I'll try a plumbing supply tomorrow, unless settles on just replacing the apron and keeping the 3-handle.

Women...

 

[Meh]

It's official - we're keeping the 3-handle with a new $45 rough-in valve, and covering the bigger hole that I wanted to make with a Swanstone wall kit. Oh NOES, you say? Well, it will be cheaper and easier that demoing the whole room like I had planned. Now I can see that the mold problem is just on the surface, and luckily I don't have to do any framing. Now, to find someone to resurface the tub...

 

[Meh]

Okay, this sucks. I finally get the valve yesterday after work, and I'm tired and my head hurts. So I finish most of my to-do chores around the house when I finally started feeling better. takes a shower and goes to work the night shift, and I turn the house water off. Upon closer inspection, this a valve apron for a compression fit, not a solder fit.

How can I make this work?

 

[grigsby]

there is no way I would put Moen junk in my home.

Delta or Kohler would be my top picks.

Oh and you should have accessed the valve from the opposite side. Drywall is much easier to repair than tile.

 

[Rugster]

Oh and you should have accessed the valve from the opposite side. Drywall is much easier to repair than tile.

Mine is gonna be a bitch to repair or replace in the future because I will have to go through the tile. Behind mine is a wall of chestnut logs that are 272 years old.

 

[Meh]

Oh and you should have accessed the valve from the opposite side. Drywall is much easier to repair than tile.

There is a 20' wall in the greatroom painted a special color of red that took forever to decide on. [Al Borlan]"I don't think so, Tim" [/Al Borlan]

The tile walls have to go anyway. I only planned on making a small hole to see if the pipes were in fact copper, and tiles just started falling off. I think someone has thought about doing this before me - they put tiles back on with silicone.

 

[Jays89YJ]

there is no way I would put Moen junk in my home.

Delta or Kohler would be my top picks.

Oh and you should have accessed the valve from the opposite side. Drywall is much easier to repair than tile.

There is good and junk in those brands, just like Moen. We dropped down to a Delta T/S setup from a higher grade Moen in a hotel we're building. A good VE option with an increase in price for the change order.

 

[themonk]

I hve had Moen that work well. I have a Delta in my kitchen that's a POS.

Pity my budget frequently limits me to Lowes/HomeyD.

 

[Ralph]

There is a 20' wall in the greatroom painted a special color of red that took forever to decide on. [Al Borlan]"I don't think so, Tim" [/Al Borlan]

The tile walls have to go anyway. I only planned on making a small hole to see if the pipes were in fact copper, and tiles just started falling off. I think someone has thought about doing this before me - they put tiles back on with silicone.

Are they mounted to cement board, or just to drywall? I was surprised as shit to see that my shower tiles were mounted on non-water-resistant drywall when I did my bathroom remodel.

As Jay said, there are good and bad in all brands. The shower stuff is all pretty good as long as you stick with a name brand so you can get parts. They're simple enough

 

[themonk]

name brand so you can get parts.

Indeed. A few weeks back I was tackling a leaky 35yo laundry sink faucet for my parents. Nothing like walking into a hardware store with the old cartridge and walking out with exact fit replacements. They didn't have the correct knobs, Lowes had them on Monday. Thing works like new, momma happy.

 

[Meh]

Well, everywhere that did hve the valave only had the full crappy trim kit for 3x the price, and I still woulda had to shell out another $50 for longer stems. I'm not sure if those were compression - I didn't think to look.

I'm gonna try to convert to compression. I'll have to get rings, because they didn't include them in the kit.

IBreplacetwentyfootsoakedredwall