Leaky shower/faucet

[LazyPup]

alicynw

You did not state where you live or whether your house has a basement or is built on a slab so I will offer you some generalities about outside faucetts that may help you. Otherwise, perhaps you can post additional details.

You stated that you forgot to cover the faucett for the winter so I am assuming that you live in a cold nothern climate which is subject to freezing.

The first step to changing the faucett is to turn the water off. In cold northern climates outside hose faucetts are required to have a stop & waste shutoff valve on the line at least 3 feet inside the house. If you have a stop & waste shutoff valve you can turn the water off at that point, then service the outside faucett. If not, you will need to locate a zone valve or shut off the house main water supply valve.

The method of changing the faucett would depend upon how it is mounted. If you house has galvanized iron pipes or in many instances copper piping there should be a male pipe thread on the end of the pipe and the faucett is screwed on the pipe. If that is the case, once the water pressure has been turned off you can simply unscrew the valve, clean the pipe threads with a small wire brush, apply some pipe dope or 3 wraps of "Full Density" teflon tape, and screw a new valve in place. (I would personally recommend using teflon pipe dope rather than teflon tape or regular pipe dope. Teflon dope will seal better than tape and it will keep the threads lubricated in the event you need to change it again in future. Ordinary pipe dope such as is commonly sold in hardware stores may harden and make it difficult to change this faucett again in future if the need arises.)

If your house has copper pipe and if the valve is soldered on, or if you have CPVC pipe you may need to cut the pipe inside the basement, pull it through the wall and attach the new faucett, then pass the pipe back through the wall and connect the pipe by either soldering or gluing a coupling on the pipe.

[alicynw]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll take a look tonight and see what type of pipes I have. It seems like it would be a fairly easy fix. I live in central Missouri and I have a basement. It's cement on three sides and wood on the back wall where faucet is. It's not yet finished, so I should be able to see the pipes very easily. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll let you know what happens or get back to you for more help, if I run into problems. Thanks again.

[Coquito27]

i read the note of 03/06/2005 abt a leaking shower (trammellclan3). my shower leaks too. It has 3 nobs...2 for hot and cold and one to switch to the shower head...do I use the same method than was proposed in the posting or is it different because of the 3 nobs? Please help!!!

[SSN596]

Your middle handle probalby switches between tub and shower. This will be repaired the same way. There are minor differences between brands; parts have to be EXACT brand replacements. There are no universal parts. Take your old parts with you to a supply house.

[LazyPup]

The center trim escutcheons and the center stem are installed exactly the same way.

When you get the diverter stem out you will see that it is a bit bigger than the faucett stems. That is because it must have two valve positions, one for the shower and the other for the tub spout, but aside from that it is basically the same.

In fact they are so much alike that the same washers fit all three stems.

[LazyPup]

In response to AliceCw's inquiry in the forum and numerous emails I prepared an additional illustration in the original answer to show the difference between the 2 handle and 3 handle mixers.

Basically they are both the same, but a two handle mixer requires a spout with a built in diverter while the 3 handle uses a conventional spout.

[erictomlin]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the members of the board, especially LazyPup, for the info posted here. I had a leaky shower faucet that I had to fix and I had never done such a repair before so I really had no idea where to begin. The info presented here, including illuatrations, was excellent and right on the mark. I was able to replace the faucet stems myself within a couple hours (including 3 trips to Lowe's to get the right tools/parts). Thanks again for saving me the hassle and expense of a plumber. It always makes you feel good when you can fix your own problems, too!

Eric