Hi All,
For years i've had problems getting the bath taps to seal. The basic issue is that the holes appear to have been drilled a good bit wider than they should have been. I measure the gap between the holes to be about 7 1/2" and the holes are about 1.5" Diameter. Don't know whether this is some old standard or whether the bath originally didn't have mixer taps or whether it's just bodged DIY...
The taps we have are fractionally over 7" (180mm?) with 3/4" BSP fittings and this seems to be the current standard. The issue being that the tap edges barely cover the edges of the holes and the fittings are floating around in the holes making it even harder to line up right.
For years we've got round this by siliconing around the taps but the issue with this is the silicone doesn't last all that long in the humid environment and the first indication they've started to leak is water in the kitchen!
So yesterday I stripped the silicone off and made an effort to try and get it done properly. I first tried standard 3/4" washers between the taps and the bath but the seals just wouldn't quite cover the holes. I then set about trying to seal from underneath with all sorts of combinations of washers and bits and pieces but the surface is a very uneven almost honeycomb type surface and it seems impossible to get anything to seal properly from underneath either.
Before I give up and get the silicone out again to go round the taps I thought I would ask on here, I suppose in the vague hope that a 7 1/2" gap is some older or different standard that I might be able to get taps for somewhere? The only alternative I can think of is to get some physically bigger (and hence slightly wider overall ) taps to give me more chance of getting a seal between the taps and the bath but these invariably seem to be the expensive ones...
Or any other ideas?
Thanks in advance...
For years i've had problems getting the bath taps to seal. The basic issue is that the holes appear to have been drilled a good bit wider than they should have been. I measure the gap between the holes to be about 7 1/2" and the holes are about 1.5" Diameter. Don't know whether this is some old standard or whether the bath originally didn't have mixer taps or whether it's just bodged DIY...
The taps we have are fractionally over 7" (180mm?) with 3/4" BSP fittings and this seems to be the current standard. The issue being that the tap edges barely cover the edges of the holes and the fittings are floating around in the holes making it even harder to line up right.
For years we've got round this by siliconing around the taps but the issue with this is the silicone doesn't last all that long in the humid environment and the first indication they've started to leak is water in the kitchen!
So yesterday I stripped the silicone off and made an effort to try and get it done properly. I first tried standard 3/4" washers between the taps and the bath but the seals just wouldn't quite cover the holes. I then set about trying to seal from underneath with all sorts of combinations of washers and bits and pieces but the surface is a very uneven almost honeycomb type surface and it seems impossible to get anything to seal properly from underneath either.
Before I give up and get the silicone out again to go round the taps I thought I would ask on here, I suppose in the vague hope that a 7 1/2" gap is some older or different standard that I might be able to get taps for somewhere? The only alternative I can think of is to get some physically bigger (and hence slightly wider overall ) taps to give me more chance of getting a seal between the taps and the bath but these invariably seem to be the expensive ones...
Or any other ideas?
Thanks in advance...