How to Rebuild a Shower Faucet

You can stop a shower from dripping in about a half hour.

There are two types of shower faucets, single handled and two handled. They might be easy to access or recessed, which makes the job of repairing them slightly harder. When you repair a shower faucet, you might replace several different parts. Be sure to check the prices and see if simply switching the faucet to a new one makes more sense. Most of the repairs aren't that difficult if you can get the correct parts. If you have an older shower faucet, it may be difficult.

Things You'll Need

• Groove-joint pliers (also called "channel locks")
• Screw drivers
• Deep-socket faucet wrench
• Washer
• Faucet seat grinder
• Faucet seat wrench
• New seat
• Utility knife
• Needle nose pliers
• New O-ring
• Plumbers grease
• New cartridge

Instructions

Two Handled Shower Faucet

1. Shut off the water and take off the handles. Regardless of how many handles you have, the removal starts the same. In the center of the handle, hidden under the handles decorative index cap is a screw you have to remove. Simply insert a screwdriver in the small slot on the cap and pry it off to expose the screw. Use a Phillip's head screwdriver to remove the screw and then pull the handle off from the stem.

2. Remove the escutcheon nut if there's one and take off the escutcheon plate, the decorative covering over the faucet stem. You normally screw this onto the pipe.

3. Use a deep-socket faucet wrench if the bonnet nut is recessed. The wrench is inexpensive and a good piece of equipment to have available. It's a six-sided tube with an adjustable stem handle through the back. It fits over the bonnet nut and you turn the handle to remove the stem.

4. Check the stem for a worn washer at the base. If you notice a lot of erosion around the base of the stem where the washer attaches, a new stem is in order. Most of the time, you simply need to insert a new washer. Remove the screw at the base, take off the old washer, insert a new one and retighten the screw.

5. Look at the seat and inspect it for wear. The seat is what the stem pushes against to stop the water flow. If it's just rough, grind it down with a faucet seat grinder until it's smooth. If you feel a crack, you'll need a new seat.

6. Take out the seat. Insert the faucet-seat wrench, an "L" shaped piece of metal with two different types of ends, into the hole. Find the end that allows you to turn the seat inside to loosen it. When it's loose, normally it stays on the seat wrench as you pull it from the wall. Get a replacement from the home improvement store.

7. Put the parts back together the way you removed them. Put heatproof plumbers grease on the washer and threads before you reinsert the stem. Once you reassemble the parts, test for leaks. You seldom have them in this plumbing job.

Single Handled Shower Faucet

1. Remove the cap in the center of the handle. Use a utility knife to do this. Underneath the cap is a Phillip's screw. Take it out and slide off the handle by pulling it forward, but be careful not to lose the plastic insert bushing.

2. Pull the decorative metal inner sleeve away from the trim plate. This exposes the retaining clip. Use a needle nosed pliers to remove the clip from the faucet cartridge. It bends easily so be careful. Once it's bent, putting it back in the slot is difficult.

3. Pull out the old cartridge from the faucet. You may have to twist it to remove it. Sometimes the cartridges are stuck and you need a cartridge remover. These are faucet maker specific, so check the label for your type of faucet before you purchase one.

4. See if the cartridge looks good enough to salvage. If it doesn't look corroded, clean it with an old toothbrush and then put a new O-ring, which attaches to the stem's base. If the cartridge doesn't look like you can save it, or you inserted the new O-ring and it still leaks, purchase the new cartridge and O-ring and grease them with plumbers grease before you insert them. Check the directions since some only go in one way.

5. Reverse the steps you took when you dismantled the single handle faucet. Insert the cartridge, retaining clip, metal sleeve, handle, screw and finally the index cap.