Bath taps wrong end and want to fit a shower? Help please :) All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[kooky]

Hello!
I am renovating my first house and learning a lot of DIY as I go which I am really enjoying! I wondered though if anyone could help me with a problem?

I want to fit a shower, preferably a power shower or a mixer. However my bath taps are the wrong end of my bath, e.g. they aren't backing on to a wall. Is the easily changed and if so how?

Sorry, I guess this is a really simple question but I could do with some advice :)

Thank you!

Kirsty

[Rico]

Kooky,

Doesnt really matter which end your taps are.

More importantly what kind of water system do you have.

Combi, open vented cylinder, unvented cylinder.

This would affect what kind of shower you have.

Rico

[htg engineer]

Could you build a false wall at the tap end of the bath ? this will accomodate the shower and hide all pipework ?

If not can the bath be turned around ? or fit shower at the other end - not ideal as you will have to stand at the bottome on the slope to have a shower.

htg

[kooky]

Thanks for the suggestions! I can't build a false wall as unfortunately the toilet is at the end of the bath. I also can't use a mixer shower as it stands because the taps are the wrong end. hmph. I don't see a slope in the bath so maybe I would get away with changing the taps to the other end and putting a mixer on there...? :?:

[plumbbob]

Apart from the slope at the end of the bath, I cannot see what difference it makes which way round the bath is. Why do you think it matters?

As Rico asks, what type of heating system have you because it makes a difference about which type of shower you can have, and how it is plumbed up?

I have a feeling you may be about to make a mistake about how to plumb the shower!

[kooky]

I was possibly considering a mixer tap onto the bath taps, but the end the taps are is an open end with the toilet behind it. So no wall to mount a shower head on to :)

The heating system is a combi boiler. Is that what you mean? I wish I could afford someone to do it for me but I unfortunately can't :s

So end decision I suppose is whether it's easier to move the taps to the other end of the bath and add a mixer shower or whether to plumb a shower in that is not reliant on the taps? Hmm.

[htg engineer]

As other posts say - the shower does not have to be at the same end as the taps.

The type of heating/hot water system you have determines the showers that are available to you.

htg

[plumbbob]

Right, now I know where you are coming from. You originally said you wanted to fit a mixer or power shower. So I think we all assumed you wanted to screw something to the wall rather than a bath shower mixer.

I ought to point out, you cannot (and don't need) to fit a power shower with a combi boiler. Pwer showers require a low pressure store of hot and cold water (header tank and DHW cylinder etc). A bath shower mixer would work pretty well.

I assume one end of the bath is up against a wall? Is it a solid wall or stud? Could pipes be put in or through the wall to supply a conventional mixer shower?

If you want to swap the bath round, the plumbing should be fairly simple. The problem is going to be getting the bath out without damaging the tiles (particularly undoing the two "L" shaped brackets) and getting a proper water seal when refitting.