Setting the Bathroom Faucet for A Shower Tub Combo

I was doing a fresh water plumbing project and the homeowner was fascinated by the way I went about the project. She asked a few questions, so I started telling her why I was going about it the way I was. The walls where I was setting the plumbing was not finished so I searched for the schematic to determine the depth to set the valve body. Once that was found I fitted a 2x 10 board between the studs as to temporary mount the valve body (VB).

Once the VB was in place I started on the cold-water side to get the measurements to the cold-water inlet for the VB. I cut the needed copper and cold fitted the line to the VB. I did the same for the hot-water side as I fitted the copper together, I was certain to clean each side of the connections and de burred the pipe. Some de bur saying it helps the fit. I use one of the brushes which does that as I clean the pipe. I de bur the inside of the pipe to reduce the friction of the running water through the pipes. I then fitted for the tub spout using the same procedures. Next, I fitted for the shower head and then the high-pressure hand wand.

Once all the lay6 out piping was completed I looked to see how much of the soldering I could do away for the VB. When you need to solder close to the VB you have to take precautions not to overheat the VB and destroy the seals. It turned out the only one joint had to be soldered in place and it was 8’ away so a wet rag across the copper reduced the effect of soldering to where the VB would, be negatively affected.

I carried the pieces to where I would be soldering them and then began the process of soldering. After taking the joints apart I cleaned them again ad the applied the water base flux and fitted the joints. I take note of the breeze as to determine which end will the smoke come from the pipe. I start solder the joints closes to that end and work my way toward the other. This method is used because if you come the other way you would be contaminating the joints you’d solder next.  I heat the pipe and the connector and have it melt the lead free solder. As you’re heating the solder you will notice it changing colors and these it looks real shinny until it looks a little wet, that is when you apply the solder to the joint and the solder will flow towards the heat source of the joint. This is called walking the solder and is why you can solder from the bottom of the joint and have the solder travel up to fill the joint. I let these pieces cool and then took them in and unmounted the VB so I could screw in the pipes as needed. This manufacture wanted Teflon tape on the threads. I followed their instructions and put the piped in the VB and then remounted each leg. I then mounted the VB and finished screwing in the last section which still required a few more joints to be soldered. Yet I place the soaking wet rag around the pipe between the joint being soldered and the VB. Once this was accomplished, I turned the water back on and checked for leaks. There were none so I began the process of hanging the wall material as needed. Sometime on plumbing one of the old pipes is egg shaped. To get it back into round I take a crescent wrench and start at the long side of the pipe and spin it around the pipe as I tighten the screw the pipe is forced back into being round. Clean the joint, flux it and solder it heavily. Be sure to pressure test the pipes before turning the water back on. If you have no leaks turn the water back on slowly with another faucet opened. Then go turn of the open faucet. This prevents the sudden impact of the water pressure. As always plan you work and then work your plan and you may be able to do a simple plumbing project.

I am a licensed contractor and I recommend checking with your city or county and purchase the need permits.

Note: Images on this blog site are from a free source or taken by the author. No image or group of photos is intended to represent the people the author serves. The author does not care about Race (that is a politically correct term that he does not like because we are all of the same Race, the Human Race. He prefers the term ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender, marital status, disability, genetic information, national origin, source of income, Veteran or military status, ancestry, citizenship, primary language or immigration status.) He is a service provider for all people. We will all rise together when we band together and help one another. Joseph Erwin is a Real Estate Broker, DRE # O2131799, and a CA general contractor # B 696662. He’s a member of the CRMLS and The East Valley Association of Realtors located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.