Self-inflicted plumbing disaster (need advice if possible)
- Thread starter LoriT71
- Start date
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I think you are having us on, you are a proper plumber! you were testing us weren't you!
BTW, I note you have two nuts in that picture No 1
LOL! Such flattery - I'm blushing!
The "two nuts" thing initially had me in a bit of a flap. Because while I tried in vain to loosen the flexible hose from the underside of the tap, the hose itself kept twisting and moving about (I didn't have two decent wrenches at that point - just one wrench and an adjustable basin wrench. The latter of which was a b**ger to try to operate in such tight quarters). Anyway, all the movement was making the lower of the two nuts start to loosen! And at this point I'd had no intention of having to do any complicated plumbing manouvers unless absolutely essential. So every so often I would carefully "re-tighten" the lower nut by hand - thinking that if I was gentle with it then it wouldn't all fall apart. Haha.
In the end, when I had to completely wreck the old flexible hose in order to remove it, I was then able to look at the remaining nuts properly - and I realised the the lower of the two nuts was actually not screwed into anything at all! LOL! It must have been left there by a previous plumbing repair. And the only thing that was remotely holding it in place on the pipe was some crusty dust and spiders webs.
Here is the bit of pipe that I cut off, along with the two loose nuts:
On a side note, my abs (or lack there of) are still killing me from all the time spent lying on my back in a semi "stomach curl/sit-up" kinda position. I couldn't even let the floor fully support my upper body because the waste pipe from the bath runs along the floor (about an inch above it), so I'd risk damaging it if I rested my head on it. It certainly gives me a greater appreciation of people who do this for a living!
Lori
x
How easy is it to get the shower temperature right with those taps (I'm planning on similar but not from B & Q, TS are about £20 cheaper )
)
How easy is it to get the shower temperature right with those taps (I'm planning on similar but not from B & Q, TS are about £20 cheaper
From my experience with them so far, temperature control has been great. I'm not sure how much of that is dictated by the type of boiler system (I have a newly installed combi-boiler). All I need to do is open the hot tap fully (which is a simple quarter turn) and I get consistent, perfectly hot water. If that feels too hot then I nudge the cold tap open a little.
I got these taps from Screwfix for £43.99. At the time I had shopped around and these seemed like a pretty good deal.
Hope this helps.
Lori
x
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Cool- ta. And I'd forgotten about Screwfix selling same range as B & Q, that's a decent price you got there. What's the next Plumbing Adventure going to be?How easy is it to get the shower temperature right with those taps (I'm planning on similar but not from B & Q, TS are about £20 cheaper
From my experience with them so far, temperature control has been great. I'm not sure how much of that is dictated by the type of boiler system (I have a newly installed combi-boiler). All I need to do is open the hot tap fully (which is a simple quarter turn) and I get consistent, perfectly hot water. If that feels too hot then I nudge the cold tap open a little.
I got these taps from Screwfix for £43.99. At the time I had shopped around and these seemed like a pretty good deal.
Hope this helps.
Lori
x
well done Lori, never be scared to do minor work yourself, and if you run short of length of pipe, you can always buy a straight compression coupling to make up for the difference, did you cut that pipe because you couldn't get that olive out? however if you took a junior hacksaw, from 99p shop, you could cut out the olive across gently as if you were cutting off a wedding ring that had gone too tight on your finger, so gently like you wouldn't want the hack saw blade to hurt your finger but in the end just enough so that it snaps and you could put on a new olive, old over tightend olives tend to dig into the copper pipe so wouldn't slide off easily.
another trick is to use a 15 or 16 mm open end spanner and rest it against an olive and tap it until it starts to move out, or cut a bit with a hack saw and then tap it out, this way you won't have to worry about hacksaw making a cut into the pipe.
btw, oldbutnotdead she was talking about abs, and you deliberately deviated from the subject, hey don't worry iof you have plumbing problem she will fix that for you!
another trick is to use a 15 or 16 mm open end spanner and rest it against an olive and tap it until it starts to move out, or cut a bit with a hack saw and then tap it out, this way you won't have to worry about hacksaw making a cut into the pipe.
btw, oldbutnotdead she was talking about abs, and you deliberately deviated from the subject, hey don't worry iof you have plumbing problem she will fix that for you!
Hopefully this is just a brain flip/typo - Plumbers mait is to my knowledge an oil based putty used to help get a watertight seal on compression fitted pipework - it has no adhesive qualities at all so keep it away from the basin-pedestal join.
Sit your basin on the pedestal and get some masking tape and mask round the outside of the join leaving about a 5-10mm space between the join and the edge of the tape - do this on both the pedestal and basin. Run a generous bead of silicone round the top of the pedestal and sit the basin on top (secure basin to wall in the same manner and screw into wall if able). You should now be able to firmly run your finger over the squeeze-out effectively pushing the excess onto the tape...once you've done that carefully peel off the tape leaving you with a really neat silicone line.
Hi Chud
Sorry, I only just realised that I didn't reply to your post. The Plumbers Mait tip was one that I picked up from a YouTube clip (but I can't remember the username - I've watched so many! LOL!). The putty would only be used around the inside rim of the top of the pedestal to "steady" the sink a bit on top of the pedestal. It's a genuinely wonky fit between the two. So I'm hoping that using the putty would give a small amount of added stability (even though I realise it isn't an adhesive or a setting compound or whatever). And yes, once that's all in place I definitely intend using a bead of silicone sealant between the top of the pedestal and the underside of the sink.
However, I'm still debating what to do with it all - whether to just get a new bath installed (since the old one is the original, and looks tatty) - and if so, maybe just get a new basin with a fitted unit beneath. I don't want to commit to anything until I've thought it all through. And I still need to do something about the soil pipe connections. So at the moment, the basin is still a teeny bit precarious! LOL! But all visitors get a stern warning not to lean, pull or push on the sink when using it.
I took some photos a couple of weeks ago to show what I meant about the dodgy fit between the basin and the pedestal (but I clearly forgot to upload them and reply). So here they are now, for what it's worth. Thanks for your reply though. x
Lori
x
well done Lori, never be scared to do minor work yourself, and if you run short of length of pipe, you can always buy a straight compression coupling to make up for the difference, did you cut that pipe because you couldn't get that olive out? however if you took a junior hacksaw, from 99p shop, you could cut out the olive across gently as if you were cutting off a wedding ring that had gone too tight on your finger, so gently like you wouldn't want the hack saw blade to hurt your finger but in the end just enough so that it snaps and you could put on a new olive, old over tightend olives tend to dig into the copper pipe so wouldn't slide off easily.
another trick is to use a 15 or 16 mm open end spanner and rest it against an olive and tap it until it starts to move out, or cut a bit with a hack saw and then tap it out, this way you won't have to worry about hacksaw making a cut into the pipe.
btw, oldbutnotdead she was talking about abs, and you deliberately deviated from the subject, hey don't worry iof you have plumbing problem she will fix that for you!
Hi Mike
My main reason for just cutting off the olive was that I'd seen some YouTube clips on how to remove an old olive - and I decided that it would be easier for me to just use my wee pipe cutter tool (I never miss an opportunity to use a new toy!). The space to move was limited anyway, so it would have been tricky to have enough room to do the required "tapping".
Lori
x
The putty will do f-all apart from make a mess, just put silicone on the top of the pedestal before you sit the basin on it, as I said before masking it first would probably be a good idea. Can't remember if I said this previously but you want reasonably high modulus silicone, Dow Corning 785 is probably a good bet.
Are you sure that is the right pedestal for that basin, did they come in the same pack ??
The shape at the top of the pedestal seems to indicate it was meant for another type of basin. the basin is not sitting right on the pedestal
The shape at the top of the pedestal seems to indicate it was meant for another type of basin. the basin is not sitting right on the pedestal
Hi Bosswhite
You're right - the pedestal is definitely not the correct one to match the basin. The previous owner mentioned this in passing, but I didn't pay much attention at the time or even ask her why she didn't use the correct one. The problem only became a problem when the sink came "unglued" from the wall and I tried to carefully balance the pedestal underneath. No matter what way I place it, there is no way it will fit "right".
Lori
x
PS Chud, I've already used Dow Corning 785 to replace the seal around the bath. It's good stuff, I agree.
The only way you will get the Basin to sit on the pedestal is to pack it out , possibly using a combination of materials, maybe a bit of foam packed out with plumbers mait , then finish off with a silicon bead around the gap.or try packing out at floor level, lifting the front of the pedestal up,
Are there Screw holes in the back of the basin to secure the basin to the wall leaving the pedestal free, or screw holes at the base of the pedestal to secure to floor
Are there Screw holes in the back of the basin to secure the basin to the wall leaving the pedestal free, or screw holes at the base of the pedestal to secure to floor
You could be right, photo three basin on pedestal certainly looks wrong fitting.
The ridge running around the pedestal would give more support to basin if its turned the other way around
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