Drip, drip, drip...

Last weekend, I got tired of the shower faucet dripping. Even though I know that someday we will replace the fixtures in that bathroom (in fact, we might turn that bathroom into a washer/drier room), I couldn't take it anymore. I figured that if I just replaced the rubber seats, then I could get some more life out of the existing valves. Yeah, sure...

Problem: couldn't get the handles off. They are after market handles with socket screws in the sides of the handles. Most faucet handles have the screw on the front. It was impossible for me to remove the handles by loosening the screws. I then decided that maybe I could unscrew the flange (the bell shaped cover) enough to access the valve stems. I ended up being able to do that on the hot water and the deviator. The cold water valve was too deep in the wall. Time for the sawzall. I love that tool. I cut the handle off and removed the valve. Here's a photo of the extracted valves. Notice the decapitated cold water valve. Saws are fun!

After looking at the rubber seats, it became clear why the faucet was dripping. The hot water valve had no rubber left at all! It was brass on brass. The deviator and cold water rubber seats were cracked and crumbling, too. Here's a photo of the valve seats. The left one is the hot water, the middle is the deviator, the right one is the cold water. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Since the valves weren't in great shape, I decided to just replace them, seats and all. The main valve housing in the wall seemed fine so I decided not to tear open the wall (actually, I already have access from the other side of the wall from replacing the hot water lines last winter).

My spouse and I drove over to McLendon's Hardware and bought new valves, flanges, and handles. I also rented a seat wrench to extract and replace the brass seats in the valve housing. The valve replacement went pretty smoothly. In fact, this is some of the easiest plumbing I've ever done. No leaking, no bloody knuckles. I could get used to this. Here's a photo of the new shower handles. Heaven.

While at McLendon's, my spouse and I saw a small retaining wall block that might be appropriate for the little wall we need to build for the hedge bed (since we won't have enough stone to do all of it). There will be trailing plants that will cover the retaining wall so looks aren't a big issue. Price is more of a concern.