Installing a shower arm

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Dear friends, once again this novice DIY'er must fall on the mercy of the experts!

I'm building a shower and will install the mixer and arm inside a stud wall, with hardiebacker 12mm and tiles on the side facing into the shower cubicle. All is going well so far in that I have the wall built, the mixer valve installed and everything connected up. I cannot, however, figure out how I'm meant to install the shower arm (pictures below).

I think that a so-called "drop ear elbow" is the correct thing to use. It will accept the male 1/2" thread on the arm and I can screw it down nicely to a noggin. Two problems I have, though, the first being that when I screw my arm into my backplate, it doesn't all align nicely and the plate ends up at about a 35 degree angle relative to the square arm. I'm assuming that a tight fitting here is essential in order to prevent leakage, as well as to support the arm. What to do? Should I cut or file a bit of the thread off in order to get these two things to marry up correctly?

Problem the second (or rather question) is to how figure out exactly where to mount the elbow. Getting exactly the right depth here is crucial, of course, but I'm quite unclear as to how to go about doing it. Should I make a "mock up" of the board/tile, drill a hole through it and then use that to correctly position the arm? Then screw the elbow on to figure out the correct position? What then?

As you can see, I'm a little lost here so any advice much appreciated!


http://res.cloudinary.com/robdylan/...55/v1480927491/IMG_20161205_082829_hajog5.jpg

http://res.cloudinary.com/robdylan/...45/v1480927490/IMG_20161205_082836_fxlg0n.jpg

http://res.cloudinary.com/robdylan/...03/v1480927490/IMG_20161205_082843_xhr6jv.jpg

http://res.cloudinary.com/robdylan/...76/v1480927494/IMG_20161205_082910_bqrzbd.jpg

http://res.cloudinary.com/robdylan/...81/v1480927488/IMG_20161205_082914_gdzepj.jpg
 
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The square plate is merely trim. Forget the backnut. Use a dab of silicone to secure plate at the end of the job. The backplate elbow takes the weight.

What matters is that the shower arm is horizontal and at right angles to the wall. Screw the backplate elbow to your noggin and check alignment and depth, adjust if needed. Remove arm.
Board and tile, fit arm and head.

Additional tips; if you run copper to the elbow a couple of pipeclips on battens a few inches below the elbow will add a bit more stability: you can shorten the threaded portion of arm if you need to: use Loctite 55 rather than PTFE tape when fitting the arm.




P.S. I do hope you didn't get your shower from V*****ria Plumb.
 
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well, I'm just a guy trying to do the best possible job within a limited budget. I didn't buy the stuff from that particular site, but from a different one with a very similar name (and I'm quite sure the implied criticism would apply to them as well!)

Appreciate the tips, though, especially about trimming down the thread and using Loctite 55. First time I've heard of the stuff, but it sounds fantastic.
 
Loctite 55 is great stuff and I'd recommend it to any professional but I'd say it's more for the experienced user rather than the DIY'er that's never used it before, especially in an area that is going to be hidden. It also needs an experienced touch to know how far to tighten it up so it's definitely stable and leak free. It also needs a little roughening up of the threads to stop it slipping.
 
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Loctite 55 is great stuff and I'd recommend it to any professional but I'd say it's more for the experienced user rather than the DIY'er that's never used it before, especially in an area that is going to be hidden. It also needs an experienced touch to know how far to tighten it up so it's definitely stable and leak free. It also needs a little roughening up of the threads to stop it slipping.
That's a polite way to tell me to stick with PTFE, right? :)
 
Well .... erm ..... hmmmmm ... cough cough .... Yup ..... if you know PTFE then stick with it ;)
 

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