Rotating basin tap

[teddyb]

Hello all

This, I'm sure, is a question you will all shrug your shoulders or raise your eyebrows at! However, here goes:

How can I stop the taps on my bathroom basin rotating when I use them?

There is very little room behind and under the basin to get many tools there - that makes it difficult to actually see the size of spanner needed. Also there appears to be no washer or anything between the tap base and the basin - making things very easy to move. Is this right? Should there be some sort of washer between the basin and the tap?

Any advice will, as always, be genuinely appreciated, thanks.

 

[Charnwood]

Get an Essex Fix-a-Tap kit - orange for ceramic basins:

http://www.essexflanges.com/fix-a-tap.html

 

[teddyb]

This looks interesting and helpful, thanks, but it looks as though I'd need to take the tap off the basin in order to use it. Am I right?
Is it within the capabilities of a reasonably ok diyer?

 

[Charnwood]

it looks as though I'd need to take the tap off the basin in order to use it. Am I right?

Yes.

Is it within the capabilities of a reasonably ok diyer?

I do it, and I'm only a counterboy!

 

[TicklyT]

There's usually little need for a washer between tap and basin. A wipe of sealant on the base of the tap before assembly usually does the job.

However, a decent washer UNDER the basin, and a decent backnut, brass for preference, can do wonders for rigidity. Sometimes plastic backnuts split or strip as they are tightened.

Another aid to rigidity of the setup is rigid copper pipework up to the tap connectors instead of the flexis that are often used.

A basin wrench :-

or

is useful for getting at the backnuts and tap connectors