Hi, this morning's project is to sort out a few bathroom taps that need to be done up quite tight to stop the water dripping.
I've got some washers, as I assume this is what needs changing, I've also got a tap reseating tool which i'll use while i've got the taps open.

I've actually just done the first tap, and I was hoping it would sort out this other slight annoyance I've got. When I want to turn on the tap, The first half turn seems to do nothing at all. It seems there is no resistance at all. Then after the half turn, there is some resistance, and slowly the water starts to flow.

I had the same problem in my old house. We had a chap round doing some other work, and got him to change the washer aswell. No idea what he did, but afterwards the taps were brilliant, no slack in the turn, no need to overtighten etc.

So my question is, what do I need to do to these taps to get rid of that annoying loose turn.

Ta very much.
J

check that the little clip shown in the picture is in the lower of the two recesses on the splined shaft.(it should grip the shaft tightley)

also dont forget about the inner 'O' ring, it may want lubricating.

You might find a halpul page or two in the tap section.

The tap head gear is a good place to start.

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DIY | Donnas dream house

What is the recommended stuff to lubricate with? Vaseline?

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Mike

Hi, Thanks for the advice on the headgear, I'll take another look at those taps shortly. But I've now another problem.
I started looking at the ensuite bathroom tap while the water was off.
After an hour of frustration, I've now got a fairly well chewed up headgear stuck in the tap. I've tried WD40, Adjustable Spanners, Stilsons, still can't get the dammed thing to budge.

I've even taken the tap off the basin now, and tried putting it in the vice, but can't get a good grip on it.

I'm just about ready to go buy a new pair of taps :( And I still haven't touched the cloakroom taps.






Sorry for the blury pics.

Thanks
J

as the tap is already off the basin put the headgear nut in the vice to hold it firmly, the try sliding some sort of pole over the spout. this may give you a bit more leverage?


silicone grease is best mike.

Well, I've tried it in the vice, and all it did is chew up the headgear even more.
I've also tried opening the headgear on the other tap, but it seems just as stuck. I haven't really pushed it because I didn't want to chew it up like this one.

What is the correct size spanner to use on these? My set of fixed spanners is metric only, and 17mm seems to be the best I can do. Just wondering if it's imperial, and if a fixed imperial spanner of the correct size would be better.

Thanks for all the advice, what a saturday. A 10 minute job turns into an all day saga :(

Looking at new taps, there are thse from screwfix.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/12375/Bathrooms-Showers/Bathroom-Taps/Contract-Taps/Swirl-Contract-Metal-Head-Bath-Tap-Pair;jsessionid=EFZT3HXH0V1DOCSTHZOSFEY

I assume that if i get these, I can reuse my current tap heads. They are nothing fancy, just cream coloured ceramic taps.

J

I think that you have tried your best on the old taps

the replacements in that link look ok, you might be lucky and the old tap tops may fit.

Thanks again for the advice.

For now, I've put the old tap back on.

Now I've been looking at new taps, and was thinking maybe it's time to get something better than the basic screwfix ones.
Any recommendations. What I want is good quality, nothing fancy.

I see there are these new quater turn taps out there now. (maybe they've been around for years, but I'v never bought taps before). From what I can tell, these don't use washers, but some kind of ceramic disc.
Are these less maintenance than taps with washers?
Are replacements easy to find in a few years time. (Are they a standard part across most tap manufacturors)?
Any recommendations for a half decent quality pair of taps that won't break the bank? I'm thinking about £20-£30, based on the fact that the basic screwfix ones are £12

Thanks
J

Well done for trying so hard

Screwfix have some good deals on at the moment in their clearance section.

The contract taps are the ones that you would see in factory toilets etc. and are very plain. For a few extra quid you can get these-

Basin taps

They also have the matching bath taps on offer-

bath taps

here's the how to-

tap fitting

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DIY | Donnas dream house

What a productive evening.

I ordered 2 sets of the basin taps that you suggested, SWMBO liked the design. I've changed the ensuite and cloakroom taps this evening, and it was a lot easier than my saturday attempt at changing washers.

The hardest tap was the hot tap in the cloakroom. The hot water didn't turn off completely. (There is no red valve on the output of the hot water tank, probably a good reason for that.) I turned the inlet off, and the openned the kitchen hot tap to try and take some of the water away from where i was working.
Undoing the tap connector was the next bit of fun. I used my trusty tap spanner from screwfix, which worked amazingly well last time. Unfortunately the spanner length puts it exactly in the way of the waste and the cold pipe to the basin, so there was very little room to turn it.
After an hour of fiddling, I got it, then changing the tap was easy.
New fibre washers all round and no problems. Other taps took about 15 mins each.

Also, I openned up all of the new taps, and removed the headgear on them. I greased the threads in an attempt to avoid chewing the heads up when it is time to change the washers.

I did check the washers against the screwfix ones I have. And like the old taps, the new washers are too big. Not sure what the problem there is, but i'll worry about that when the time comes.

So, 4 new basin taps, 2 basin taps reseated and new washers.
all that is left are the bath taps, and the kitchen sink.

I couldn't have done any of this without this website.

Thanks
J

glad its sorted

if the 1/2" washers that you have are too big, then the replacements that will fit will be 3/8", any reasonable plumbers merchant will stock them.

So, just not screwfix then :)
Ah well, i'll stick this bag of 98 washers in the "it'll come in handy one day" pile along with that bag of 96 fibre washers :)