Need help converting bath to bath+shower

[yeancheant]

I have got a bath in my main bathroom. It is connected to 2 taps - hot and cold. I would like to enable my guest to use that bathroom to shower.

Problem

1. Needs a shower
I have tried a shower mixer - and have actually tried it by replacing the two individual taps with a shower/mixer I bought from homebase. However it is firstly leaking, and I can't seem to stop it and secondly it is very difficult to adjust the correct warmth of the water.

I think this is down to the fact that the pressure from the cold water is much higher than the hot water

2. Walls not tiled higher up

I can do electrical stuff and computer stuff but am no good with plumbing and tiling. Now that the bath tap is leaking, I've stopped using it. I think I can prob fix it myself once I get the time. I have used the white plastic cellophane and some rubber washer as well but it is still leaking.

How much would it cost to get a plumber to repair this. How much would it cost to get tiles placed on the wall and what options do I have with regards to the water pressure.


Thanks for reading

 

[gas4you]

The leak could be either your installation or cr***y homebase mixer.

The problem you have is that the cold to your bath is coming straight from the mains, whereas the hot is via the hw cylinder which is fed from a cold storage tank in the loft, therefore with a lot less pressure. You need to replumb the bath cold so it has a dedicated 22mm supply direct from the cold storage tank in the loft.

This will give the balanced hot and cold pressures.

 

[yeancheant]

replumb ? now that sounds really difficult

how do I do that ? all I can see is just the pipe coming out of the floor and into the mixer tap. I presume I will need a plumber, how much would they charge?

 

[yeancheant]

can i try something like a thermostatic bath filler / shower combination. will they work ? thanks

 

[sooey]

can i try something like a thermostatic bath filler / shower combination. will they work ? thanks

Won't work with unbalanced supplies like gas4you said, either get a leccy shower put in or maybe a trevi boost. Theres no cheap easy way to do it.

 

[yeancheant]

So basically my new house which comes with a bath cannot be converted into a bath shower easily ?

An electric shower will not look pretty

A direct shower / tap mixer will give poor temp control

A thermostat shower will not work - ?why

Essentially the problem is that the pressure from the cold water is higher than the hot water and the only way forward is by changing that first ?

Did I get everything correct ?

Its just strange that all new houses in my area will then have a bath which they cannot convert into a bath shower.

 

[sooey]

Nobody has said that you can't have a shower fitted, just that it won't be as easy as you hoped, people can only give advice based on what you tell them. You say you have low pressure (gravity fed) hot, and high pressure (mains fed) cold, in that situation a normal shower is not going to work.