Leaks in shower valves can be both annoying and costly. Water waste increases, leading to mold growth and wood rot in your bathroom, while mold grows on walls if left unchecked.
Use these instructions to replace your valve seat and restore your faucet!
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1. Turn Off the Water
Your shower faucet shouldn’t malfunction in an inconvenient fashion! Not only is this inefficient use of water and energy wasteful, it could cause significant damage to your bathroom and mold growth or wood rot issues.
Begin by switching off the water supply – this may require switching it off across your entire house if there’s no shower-specific valve to switch it off.
Removing the handle requires unscrewing it from its socket while prying off the escutcheon plate with a flat-blade screwdriver before prying off its screwheads.
2. Remove the Faucet Handle
Your shower’s configuration may dictate several methods for you to unhook its handles. Plastic knob handles typically feature a cap that can be removed with your thumbnail or small slot screwdriver; lever handles usually feature an attractive cover called an “escutcheon”, covering up a screw that connects it to the stem or cartridge of the shower head.
Once the cap has been removed, use a screwdriver to unscrew and pull off the handle of the valve body. Some escutcheons may stick to walls; in these instances, try loosening them using pliers.
3. Unscrew the Valve
Before you can remove your handle, it is necessary to unscrew your shower valve using either wrenches or screwdrivers – although a faucet puller may be more appropriate and readily available online for optimal results. Also, remove the decorative faceplate (escutcheon) and the protective sleeve covering the faucet stem and cartridge assembly from its position on your wall.
Unscrewing the nut from the stem with a wrench may prove challenging and require some wriggling and pulling, so ensure your wrench fits this particular nut properly or experiment until you find one that does.
4. Remove the Valve Body
While taking apart your handle and faucet parts, be sure that all are kept safely stored away – any missing pieces could require going back through this entire process to find another part!
Different shower faucets feature different methods for uninstalling their valve bodies, so read your manufacturer’s instructions closely before trying. Some models feature an inconspicuous cover cap you can pry open with a screwdriver without risk of nicking; others need special cartridge-pulling wrenches in order to extract their stem from their valve body.
5. Remove the Valve Seat
By using a screwdriver, remove the ornamental button on the rear end of the stem to expose a screw. Loosen this screw by turning it anticlockwise and extract the handle assembly.
If the escutcheon trim is caulked to your shower wall, cutting through its seal may be necessary in order to loosen it and then using a screwdriver to take apart its faceplate and sleeve.
The faucet stem is secured by a hex nut that may or may not be visible; sometimes, this hex nut may even be concealed under a pry-off cap and require special tools to access. In these instances, using a deep socket wrench may be necessary.
6. Replace the Valve Seat
If the issue lies within a leaking valve seat, replacing it may be the answer to its problems. A new seat can help ensure watertight seal integrity remains intact while replacing one from within walls can be tricky.
As part of this process, a special tool called a seat wrench must be used to extract the brass seat that lies concealed within your wall and replace it with a new one. Once this process has been completed, turn back on the water supply and check for leaks before installing new valve seats on all faucets.
7. Reassemble
As you install the cartridge, ensure it’s oriented properly in the valve body before screwing on its handle and reattaching its trim. If pulling off is difficult, try warming it with a hair dryer or using a special cartridge puller (available at plumbing parts distributors and home centers).
Before reattaching the faceplate or escutcheon, clean it and apply tub caulk where it meets with the wall. Turn on the water supply to the faucet and test that everything works correctly before attaching back in place.