Bath faucet Leak

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Rob277

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I have an older style 2 knob shower faucet. The kind with hot and cold knobs and a plunger in the spout for shower head. The valve seats or something have worn out causing the valves to be able to be wiggled easily. This was just a nuisance until it started to allow the water to leak past the valve and drip out the spout. thanks to this It's keeping the tub to keep moist and grow mildew and mold.

The wall is tilled or i would just rip it out and replace. I have no idea what brand or model the faucet is. How would i go about finding new gaskets and seats for the valves?
 
You can find the parts that you need at home depot or lowes, I wrote a tutorial on how to change tub stems and seats out here Fix a Leaky tub faucet

Lemme know if its a different type of handle than yours, if you could upload a pic I could explain how better of what you could do.
 
OK got a few pictures. Had to use my phone because my camera batteries are dead so the quality isn't top notch. The only thing as far as a brand i could find is the backing plate says Foremost beside the UPC stamp. The guy that tiled really cut it tight so that's gonna be a headache. thanks for the help. Oh and never mind the knobs they're universal replacements as the old plastic knobs broke off a while back.

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get a hammer and a small chisel and just lightly hammer away at the tile in the circle around the tub stem until you have enough room to remove it.. I've had to do it hundreds of times, just be careful though, even if you break a tile outside the circle a few tiles are pretty easy to replace>
 
Looks pretty simple with no tile destruction. At the end of the stem it looks like there is a "nut". Unscrew this. It is the packing nut. after you remove it, you should be able to turn the stem and unscrew it out. On the end of the stem you will see a rubber seal/washer held on with a brass screw. Take the whole stem assembly with you to a hardware or Home Center to get the right size washer. Buying a pack with multiple (different size) washers is a waste of money since you will probably never use the rest of them. Remove the screw, replace the washer and reassemble the stem. The wiggling may have been caused by the worn washers. If not, then you need to get new seats and install them. Try it with just the washer replacement first.
 
Hello Rob:
Majakdragon is correct; take the whole stem with you to a supply store. I would think it is more likely a case of replace the stem and possibly a spring loaded rubber seal behind that. The guys at HD or Lowes should be able to direct you.
Glenn
 
Before replacing the entire stem I would first just try a new washer and new packing. (Unless the stem is obviously damaged when you take it out). A new seat (inside where the washer compresses) may also be replaceable or repairable if thats the problem.
 
you can replace tha faucet without damaging the tiles. and that is what i would recomend for you to do. by the time you buy all the old washers and gaskets and run all over the city. you could have bee done. cut the wall out from the back. take apart the the old valve . take it out from the back and replace it with a new one. to make the hook up on the shower head easier. use 3 st 90s and 1 90 so that you arn't ''jacken'' with the tile. same on the spout plumbings fun aint it
 
Frodo, This is a DIY site and you want someone to take all kinds of time and energy to do reconstruction of walls to fix a simple leak. Sorry, but simplicity is the best way to get things done and much cheaper than buying new units and doing wall repair.
 
The tile guy was trying to be just a little TOO good. You may need just a little bit more clearance to get the stem out. ( the one nut shown in your pic is the packing gland. you need to unscrew the whole body, with a larger socket further towards the inside)

I use a 1/2" cold steel chisel, and a SMALL hammer. Just nibble away at the tile until you can get that socket on there and turn it. I have done this a whole bunch of times, and never cracked a tile. Even if you did crack one, this is not the end of the world, since most of that area will still be covered by the eschutcheon. You do have to get in there, so just be careful
 
gallo_gun said:
I wrote a tutorial on how to change tub stems and seats...
Click to expand...

Hey thats a cool guide gallo, I went ahead and bookmarked your site, because this is a common question and having pictures as well as instructions makes it a lot easier when you are trying to explain something.
 
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