Common Concerns With The Bathroom Plumbing

By Author: Scott Rodgers
Total Articles: 14
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The bathroom is one of the most valued rooms in your home because for many people it can be a place to hide away from the crazy world outside. Whether it be that you have children racing around the house, or you have a stressful job, or you just need to escape, it's marvellous to shut the door and enjoy a wonderful long bath for 1/2 an hour, or have a hot shower without the possibility of being disturbed.

Nonetheless, because it involves water, it's one of the most important places in your home to make sure you keep a lookout for things going wrong with your plumbing. It means that you can continue to escape without having to be concerned about that leaking faucet, or the drip on the floor, or several other things. As with all things to do with plumbing, more quickly you see problems and fix them, the simpler and cheaper the job will be.

The very first thing to have on your check list of possible problems are the bathroom taps. Remember how you have put in shower heads that reduce the flow of water in order that you are complying with the law and are reducing your water consumption, well, that is because ...
... the water pressure flowing into your home is extremely fast. Accidentally lift off a faucet handle and the water will explode, more than likely all of the way to the ceiling. This shows you what a huge amount of pressure your faucet is continually under. This is also why it's highly recommended not to leave on your taps that are fixed to your appliances because of this pressure.

But back to the faucet. If it's leaking, this is a major problem. One drip each second equals around 2,700 gallons each year. This is a huge volume of water. So you need to fix this immediately.

Firstly, you need to know what sort of faucet it is. Does it use washers or does it use cartridges? In most cases you'll find that you can sort this out be switching off the faucet. If the handle gets harder to turn, chances are your faucet uses washers. If it doesn't then you more than likely have a cartridge style of faucet. Nonetheless, you won't know what precise sort of washer or cartridge the faucet uses.

Hopefully when you installed the taps you will have kept the guidelines which means you will know what you need to purchase from the local local hardware store. However, the faucet may have been installed before you arrived to live in the house, so this might not be possible. If this is your case, you will need to open up the faucet and have a look.

Turn off the water supply to the house in order that you don't get an example of the water pressure in the bathroom. Then remove the cap to expose the handle screw. These caps have all kinds of different ways of being attached, so try a variety of possibilities including turning or gently prising with a flat screwdriver. You then need to take out the handle and then there might also be a sleeve over the stem itself. Some sleeves thread directly onto the valve, others thread plastic tubes to connect the trim sleeve with the valve. Others have different configurations. If you are keen to do this yourself but you can't sort out the proper procedure, then check if you can find the brand of valve for your faucet and have a look at online as there is very likely going to be an instruction guide.

When you have removed the handles and trim sleeve from the valve you will be able to discover what is causing your leak. The washer is pretty well always at the other end of the valve stem from the handle. So take off the valve stem. It tends to be easiest to do this using a deep socket tool. You'll then find the washer and see if it's worn or chipped. It could be that it's just the washer that needs replacing, but it may be that the whole stem needs to be replaced. If you are uncertain, the easiest solution is to take the whole stem with you to the local hardware store and get them to suggest the best replacement.

If there is a washerless catridge type valve the good news is that the process is similar but simpler. Remove the handles and trim and you'll find the cartridge is either kept in place by a retaining clip on the valve body, or by a retaining clip. Remove the cartridge, take it to the local hardware store and purchase the appropriate replacement. Put the cartridge back in place and then don't forget to look to see that the cold and hot are around the right way. It may be that you've put the cartridge in upside down, in which case you'll need to flip the cartridge round to the right direction.

If there is a faucet that uses little cup seals that fit over springs recessed in the back of the valve body, you need to change the springs and seals which should stop the drip. If there is a ball design, and you haven't changed this type before, I'd suggest getting somebody experienced to assist you for your first time as they can be to a degree complicated with significantly more o-Rings and parts. Nonetheless, the parts are readily available from your local hardware store and, in most cases, the process is relatively simple once you understand how it all works.

Delimited Author Bio Resource Box

Scott Rodgers has recently retired as a Los Angeles master plumber and is committed to helping you to maintain your bathroom. For more useful plumbing tips and information, visit Scott's website: http://eLocalPlumbers.com
Scott Rodgers is a recently retired Los Angeles plumber and he loves to share his many years experience of baths and plumbing. For more useful tips and information, visit Scott's website: http://eLocalPlumbers.com