[SOLVED] Problem re-washering ancient tap

[JohnW2]

Edit: Read this if you wish, but I've now solved the problem - with a somewhat frightening amount of 'brute force'!

Hi folks. Following my recent thread about my serious problems with unscrewing a bib tap (now solved, by brute force!), I have another problem with the (ancient) tap in the basin just above it.

The basin tap is dripping a bit, so I thought that replacing its washer might be all that was needed. I can't get the ('cross') handle off (and fear I'll break it if I hit it any harder), but I was able to easily unscrew the cover enough to get a spanner on the hex bit of the top part, whereby I easily unscrewed it.

However, I then came across a problem I've never encountered before. Having removed the top bit of the tap, I was confronted with a rod, on the end of which I presile there is the washer) which I simply can't get out. It's 'loose', in the sense that I can freely waggle it about, side to side and up/dawn, but only 'up' for about half an inch until it hits the bit with the thread into which the top part of the tap screws. No matter how much fiddling I do, it simply won't come out. Am I missing something, is this another case in which some sort of brute force is needed, or what?

The first pccie below shows what i can see, and the second with the rod lifted as high as it will go (held up by a pair of artery forceps ).

As always, any advice would be much appreciated!!

Kind Regards, John

 

[blup]

Get yourself a new basin John

Blup

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Get yourself a new basin John

Blup

Yep!

Obviously the washer was so old, it had expanded, jamming its removal.

 

[JohnW2]

Get yourself a new basin John

I'm not really sure why you say that. It needs just a little more 'cleaning up', but is essentially in near-perfect condition. I haven't yet decided whether I am ultimately going to use it ('permanently') in the house but, if I don't, there are plenty of people out there prepared to pay very good money for such a thing. I suspect that it is older than even me ( ), and quite possibly 100 or more years old.

The tap is clearly a different matter, being well past its 'sell by date'. However, there is a lot of 'concrete' in the vicinity of it's back nut, and I really wanted to avoid yet another 'challenge' if I could avoid it, and replacing the washer seems to have achieved that.

Talking of the washer, what was sopping me getting it out was the washer itself. Over the years/decades it had been 'squashed and expanded', presumably by over-zealous turning off, and had become very hard and brittle. When my brute force eventually got it out, the washer did not bend, it shattered into several pieces - as you can see here (together with an example of what I replaced it with, which did 'fit through the hole!).

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Yep! Obviously the washer was so old, it had expanded, jamming its removal.

Indeed - see what I've just written and illustrated!

Kind Regards, John

 

[blup]

I'm not really sure why you say that. It needs just a little more 'cleaning up', but is essentially in near-perfect condition. I haven't yet decided whether I am ultimately going to use it ('permanently') in the house but, if I don't, there are plenty of people out there prepared to pay very good money for such a thing. I suspect that it is older than even me ( ), and quite possibly 100 or more years old.

View attachment 307365

The tap is clearly a different matter, being well past its 'sell by date'. However, there is a lot of 'concrete' in the vicinity of it's back nut, and I really wanted to avoid yet another 'challenge' if I could avoid it, and replacing the washer seems to have achieved that.

Talking of the washer, what was sopping me getting it out was the washer itself. Over the years/decades it had been 'squashed and expanded', presumably by over-zealous turning off, and had become very hard and brittle. When my brute force eventually got it out, the washer did not bend, it shattered into several pieces - as you can see here (together with an example of what I replaced it with, which did 'fit through the hole!).

View attachment 307366

Kind Regards, John

As you were get a new bathroom

Blup

 

[JohnW2]

As you were get a new bathroom

Well, for what it's worth, it's nowhere near where any bathroom is, or ever will be - it's in the 'scullery', which is an 'almost outdoor' place, beyond (and accessible from) the kitchen at the rear, and from which one can access an (again, 'almost outside' loo).

A problem I have is that the house (around 140 years old) has a lot of 'period features', which includes basins, sinks and loos etc. - so I've going to have to eventually decide whether to somehow retain such things or 'desecrate' the place by replacing them with 21st century alternatives!

Kind REgards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm not really sure why you say that. It needs just a little more 'cleaning up', but is essentially in near-perfect condition. I haven't yet decided whether I am ultimately going to use it ('permanently') in the house but, if I don't, there are plenty of people out there prepared to pay very good money for such a thing. I suspect that it is older than even me ( ), and quite possibly 100 or more years old.

Nowt wrong with that!

 

[blup]

Well, for what it's worth, it's nowhere near where any bathroom is, or ever will be - it's in the 'scullery', which is an 'almost outdoor' place, beyond (and accessible from) the kitchen at the rear, and from which one can access an (again, 'almost outside' loo).

A problem I have is that the house (around 140 years old) has a lot of 'period features', which includes basins, sinks and loos etc. - so I've going to have to eventually decide whether to somehow retain such things or 'desecrate' the place by replacing them with 21st century alternatives!

Kind REgards, John

I stand corrected

Blup

 

[JohnW2]

Nowt wrong with that!

Indeed not! However, as I subsequently wrote, I have to decide whether or not I want to 'desecrate' the 'period features', even if there iu cash to be had by so doing. Those people out there who are 'prepared to pay very good money' for such things presumably do understand, (and appreciate), their merits

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I stand corrected

Nothing to correct, really, other than that the basin is not in a bathroom. In fact, there is currently no room in the house that 21st century eyes would be likely to regard as 'a bathroom' - so, if it were a case of anything, it would be "a bathroom", rather than "a new bathroom"

Kind Regards, John