Putting in a shower

jenniewb

Ah- right forum found!! I need some advice- and am very grateful in advance to anyone who can offer any help!

I have decided to try/attempt to put in a shower- one of those ones that works with your bath taps as I only have a bath (I hate baths) and would ideally love a shower. Theres no way I can afford one of the electric wall type showers so a bath-tap attachment seems the best way to go.

I have seen one in B&Q for £40 which looks fine to me. BUT it will mean I have to take out my bathroom taps and put in this new tap and shower attachment.

How easy/hard is this? (replacing bath taps) is it something best done by a plummer? or is it something fairly basic with just the right equipment needed? I can follow instructions and am fairly strong but my worry is that I will end up with a flood or something!

Has anyone any advice?

Igol

At its most basic your looking at undoing 2 nuts.

I'd suggest getting a book on plumbing from the library.
And I'd recomend some 15mm (depending on your pipes) pushfit flexy tap connectors. They'll make your life a whole lot easier and if you havent already got isolators on the bath pipes a pair of them as well.

Its not a big job but it is fiddley as everything you want to get at is going to be tucked away out of sight behind the wall of the bath.

And before you go chucking money at B&Q have a look at toolstation.co.uk and screwfix.com, you may find the taps you want cheaper along with the other bits you need.

macman

As long as your stopcock works and you know where it is, you cannot possibly have a flood. Give it a go.
Agree with Igol that getting access is the usual tricky part with bath taps, depends on your bathroom layout.

rachbc

agree with the other, straight forward but fiddly to get access. PLumbing was the first DIY I tackled and if I can do it...

EliteHeat

macman wrote: »

As long as your stopcock works and you know where it is, you cannot possibly have a flood.

How do you know this?

jackieb

We changed all our taps before selling our house last year. Never done it before, and yes it's fiddly, but if you have the right DIY book and tools and patience it can be done by a DIY novice.

John_3:16

If you are unsure of where you stopcock is? And what it is used? You should really read up on what you need to do.

There are issues with putting shower fittings on bath taps. If the cold is from the main pipe and the hot is a differant pressure from a hot water tank? you can end up with massive temp changes if someone uses the cold or hot somewhere else in the house.

EliteHeat

John_3:16 wrote: »

If you are unsure of where you stopcock is? And what it is used? You should really read up on what you need to do.

I'm still not sure why you or anyone thinks the stopcock is so important.

macman

EliteHeat wrote: »

How do you know this?

OK, I should have said, you cannot have a continual flood. If the OP was intending to DIY then it is reasonable to assume she has a grasp of the basics and would be able to isolate the bath supplies or to drain down the tank if necessary.

dander

I tried changing bath taps once. Struggled for 2 days with an ever-changing array of tools before concluding that in my case it was an impossible job. I would recommend having a good look at what kind of access you've got before stumping up for the taps.

The main problem I had in that bathroom was there was some kind of home-made wooden structure holding the bath in place which had struts and protrusions which prevented you getting any kind of spanners in place with room to turn them. So watch for that kind of thing as well as access to the tap end of the bath itself.

I think plumbers probably do a contortionist training at plumbing school.

John_3:16

The stopcock is the name given to a tap that stops water comming into your system. It is usely at the first point the water comes in. If you turn it off no water can come into your pipe work. If you have a tank in the loft or a hot water tank then this will still have water in it until you have drained it.

You should find the stopcock for your use if you ever need to turn the water off.