Pull or twist? - - Taking apart shower handles

[mickyjune26]

Please see the attached picture.

In order to tak apart the shower handles do I...
1. Shut off the water at the meter or at the hot water heater?
2. Do I pull the handles away from the wall or do i twist them off? I have already unscrewed the thread in the middle of each handle.

Thanks,
- home repair newbie

[pushkins]

I think those handles "pull" off once you have removed the center screw, the mounting cover screws off. if your just removing the handles to clean then there is no need to turn off the water if your intending to replace a washer then you need to turn off the water, at the meter is always the best place, it coves both hot and cold lines, just make sure you open a faucet that is lower than these, to drain the water from the lines.

[LazyPup]

Those handles pull of as mentioned above but if they have been on there for a long time they may be very difficult to pull off. You can buy a very inexpensive handle puller at any hardware store for about $8 to $10. The puller looks like a common gear puller with a central screw shaft that has a point that fits into the screw hole, and there are two arms that hook under the bottom edge of the faucet handle. As the screw shaft is turned it will gently pull the faucet handle off with very little effort and no damage.