How do I change kitchen taps?

shanni · 14 January 2006 at 2:53PM

My 2 kitchen perspex taps are really manky looking, how would I know what size would fit if I went to buy some? It's a mixer tap.

Thanks for any tips.

andrewmoorcroft · 14 January 2006 at 6:17PM

shanni wrote:

My 2 kitchen perspex taps are really manky looking, how would I know what size would fit if I went to buy some? It's a mixer tap.

Thanks for any tips.

Your taps are not perspex they will be brass and probably plated. The tap head may be plastic. If its the plastic heads that are manky and the tap itself is OK then you can buy tap adaptor heads. This can be done with no plumbing whatsoever. If your DIY store doesn't have them then go to a good plumber merchant. You can get some nice chrome ones that look as if there solid metal. If you want to change the tap itself then the hole through the sink will fit all mixer taps. However you can't tell what size fittings are attached to the pipework without looking as there are many flexi pipe variations with different fittings and many old ones were hard piped to 15mm fittings.

jobbingmusician · 15 January 2006 at 3:19PM

Shanni, you might want a more basic explanation of what andrew has said.

If your taps are ordinary, what you do is get a screwdriver (a knife might do it) and lever off the little plate at the top which normally says H or C. Under this is a screw - undo this and the perspex bit will come off. Take this to the plumbers merchant and say you want a new bit

(That's a sort of girlie version, which is just within my capabilities!)

andrewmoorcroft · 15 January 2006 at 9:49PM

jobbingmusician wrote:

Shanni, you might want a more basic explanation of what andrew has said.

If your taps are ordinary, what you do is get a screwdriver (a knife might do it) and lever off the little plate at the top which normally says H or C. Under this is a screw - undo this and the perspex bit will come off. Take this to the plumbers merchant and say you want a new bit

(That's a sort of girlie version, which is just within my capabilities!)

And now for a more girlie version. The screw is often very soft. Use the correct screwdriver and push down hard or you may reck it. Also hold the tap head when you undo the screw or it might turn the tap on. If it turns the tap on then make sure u turn it off before taking the head off. Don't ask the plumbers merchant for a new bit unless you want a new crappy plasitic one. Ask him if you can look at his best bits and he may have a choice.

When fitting the new ones put the right H or C head on the right tap. !!!! i forgot to tell you to make a note of this before you took the old ones off!

Hot is usually on the left. If you prefer to swap the hot and cold around then just swap the caps on the top of the heads. (just joking)