Mixer Shower Fitting Advice

[Joe27Reading]

Hi All,

I am having a problem with fitting a mixer shower in our spare bathroom, I live in a new build flat (6 years old) and the shower that was originally on there was forced on, which is why it always leaked on the left side because the threads never truly lined up.

I took the shower completely off this weekend to try and replace it with a new one, however, because it doesn't line up I can not connect it, I can connect the right side just not the left, it is mm out and I don't want to force it on. You can actually see on the pipe work the threads on the plastic have deteriorated from being forced on.

Has anyone got any tips on how to fix this problem? I am a pretty avid DIY'er but when it comes to this kind of work I don't want to mess around. I also don't have the capacity to take the tiles off the wall either. As you see I have had to put end caps on each pipe and also plumbers putty just to ensure no leeks occur.

Under all that is just a grey plastic pipe.

It was such a poor job that was done before and the old shower is ruined due to limescale.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Joe

 

[Ben-gee]

You may be able to ease one pipe over a bit.

I would try the right hand one as it is on the corners of 4 tiles.

Using a suitable drill bit (they look like ceramic tiles so should be ok, - try a Bosch blue construction bit if you need to buy one) carefully drill a series of holes and remove bits of tile - you have up to the size of the cover plate.

With any luck you will be able to see some screws holding the fittings in place, loosen them and ease the fitting over.

Depends on what fittings are used of course, but all you can do is investigate.

Alternatively; many bar mixers have slightly “floating “ fittings which allow for slight misalignment of pipe centres eg hansgrohe ecostat bar valves. However mot much play usually only a mm or so.