I’ve installed two 1/2” female wall plates for shower outlets, which will be covered with XPS tile backer boards and then tiled. Once tiled, the wall plates will sit a few millimetres behind the finished tile. The shower outlet fitting (1/2” male thread with a decorative cover) screws into these plates.
The instructions say to slide the decorative cover on first, then wrap the male thread with PTFE and tighten it in. I’m planning to use Loctite 55 instead of PTFE.
From past experience, PTFE can be hit and miss. Sometimes it leaks still and you need to further tighten it more. I’ve also seen a lot of videos where this type of fitting slowly leaks and water ends up dripping inside the wall over time.
My concern is that once this fitting is installed and tiled, you can’t actually see or check the joint at all. You’re basically trusting that it doesn’t leak, with no way to monitor it later. That idea makes me a bit uneasy.
How do professionals make sure these connections are definitely leak-free before everything is sealed up? Is there any way to properly confirm it?
I was thinking of sealing behind the wall plate (for example with CT1), so that if it ever did leak, the water would come out the front rather than into the wall. Would that make sense?
Also, if I use Loctite 55 and then add a light smear of LS-X over the thread as extra protection, is that overkill or a sensible “belt and braces” approach? or can LS-X potentially fail or make the loctite 55 not work?
Any advice on how to make sure this doesn’t slowly weep and cause damage over time would be much appreciated.
The instructions say to slide the decorative cover on first, then wrap the male thread with PTFE and tighten it in. I’m planning to use Loctite 55 instead of PTFE.
From past experience, PTFE can be hit and miss. Sometimes it leaks still and you need to further tighten it more. I’ve also seen a lot of videos where this type of fitting slowly leaks and water ends up dripping inside the wall over time.
My concern is that once this fitting is installed and tiled, you can’t actually see or check the joint at all. You’re basically trusting that it doesn’t leak, with no way to monitor it later. That idea makes me a bit uneasy.
How do professionals make sure these connections are definitely leak-free before everything is sealed up? Is there any way to properly confirm it?
I was thinking of sealing behind the wall plate (for example with CT1), so that if it ever did leak, the water would come out the front rather than into the wall. Would that make sense?
Also, if I use Loctite 55 and then add a light smear of LS-X over the thread as extra protection, is that overkill or a sensible “belt and braces” approach? or can LS-X potentially fail or make the loctite 55 not work?
Any advice on how to make sure this doesn’t slowly weep and cause damage over time would be much appreciated.
