Despite the successes of modern housing construction, a small bathroom and a combined toilet remain a sad reality for many apartment owners. Where almost every square centimeter counts, some problems can be solved by installing a faucet on the side of the bathtub.
This fashionable novelty has many advantages. However, it also has a number of disadvantages. Let's try to understand them and the intricacies of installing faucets on the side of the bathroom.
Review of useful tips from the master
In this guide, we'll help you make those tough choices and explain what to look for when choosing faucets.
The efficiency of your faucets can be affected by the water pressure system in your home. If you have a high-pressure plumbing system, you'll be able to choose from most sink faucets on the market, but if you have a lower-pressure system, it's worth determining the exact water pressure to find faucets that will provide a strong flow of both warm and and cold water.
Disadvantages to be aware of
Despite all the advantages that are described in detail in advertising brochures, before purchasing a faucet for a rim, you should think about a number of problems, especially if the owner of the house plans to install it himself.
First of all, you should not buy an inexpensive model, since due to the nature of their operation, these plumbing products are subject to high loads. A low-quality faucet will have to be replaced very soon.
The most vulnerable element of such a mixer is the shower hose. Most of the time it is in a curled state, so it gradually becomes deformed. Soon cracks appear on the hose, it begins to leak and requires replacement. Unfortunately, even expensive and high-quality faucets are not immune to problems with the hose.
The shower head hose of the mortise mixer is located in a coiled state behind the bathtub body or behind the false panel. Constant deformation of this element leads to its frequent breakdowns
You will have to come to terms with the fact that the hose needs to be changed periodically. Prudent buyers immediately take a spare hose to perform this simple repair as soon as the need arises. Particularly vulnerable in this regard are faucets whose spout also serves as a shower head.
Amateur craftsmen who do not have much experience in plumbing work should remember that at home it is easiest to install an on-board faucet on an acrylic bathtub. When working with a product made of cast iron or steel, the enamel will almost certainly be damaged, which can cause corrosion. As a result, the bathtub will have to be repaired or completely replaced.
It is better for an inexperienced master to entrust this work to a reliable specialist. Another way to solve the problem is to purchase a bathtub with a ready-made hole for installing a mixer. True, acrylic bathtubs are usually supplied with this option. Of course, when choosing a mixer, you will have to take into account the size of such a hole.
What is a basin faucet
A single lever faucet combines the supply of hot and cold water, which comes out through a single spout. It can be controlled by a lever or by two handles.
This means you can control the temperature of the water coming out of your tap.
External
Advantages: ease of installation and replacement, ease of maintenance.
Disadvantages: inconvenient to use, plus, if the faucet mixer for the bathroom and washbasin is located between them, then when the spout is moved frequently, the connections begin to leak.
What are the advantages of a mixer
Unlike more traditional taps with a separate water supply, a faucet can provide:
- Sleek and modern look
- Better water temperature control
- Better savings thanks to precisely controlled flow
Worm
In such a mixer, a worm gear moves a rod with a cuff, which blocks the passage for water.
The main advantages of this type are: reliability and cheap production. In addition, repairing such a mixer is quite easy, you just need to change the cuff
The disadvantages include the long rotation of the valve, several turns, to fully open the stem.
Is the faucet suitable for your bathroom?
All built-in basin mixers are compatible with gravity, unvented or high pressure boilers, or fully modulating combi boilers.
The choice of sink will determine the style of faucet you can install, as the sink will have one or two holes for it. The two tap holes are designed for a more traditional installation of separate hot and cold water supply.
Are mounting panels and strips required?
Manufacturers of faucets and accessories built into the bathtub side offer consumers special mounting panels and strips that are designed to strengthen the drilled structure of the bathtub side.
According to some craftsmen, holes made in the side of the bathtub negatively affect the rigidity of the material (acrylic). Therefore, it is proposed to use additional panels to strengthen it.
A mixer with a shower head and two valve taps, mounted on a decorative strip that promotes uniform distribution of pressure on the side
The issue of installing a reinforcement strip is decided individually in each case. In practice, experienced plumbers prefer to do without installing such additional panels. They don’t want to tinker with these parts, since they usually need to be filed and trimmed to fit the size and shape of the bathtub.
If the side has a rounded shape, then making such an adjustment is almost impossible.
If you have one hole
One hole for the mixer allows you to choose between monoblock and single-lever types. As the name suggests, single lever ones use a lever to control the flow of both hot and cold water from a single spout.
- Monobloc faucets also have only one spout, but with two handles for independent control of the balance of hot and cold water.
- With monobloc faucets, you have a choice of different handle styles as well as different finishes.
With cork deviator
The advantages of such a mixer include: beautiful and compact appearance, small dimensions, simple switching. The disadvantages include difficulty in repair.
Depending on the arrangement of the mechanisms, shower-spout mixers can be built-in or external:
Noses
There's nothing more frustrating than a sink where you can't fully wash your hands under running water. Choosing faucets with the right size spout for your sink is an important element to making using your sink as easy as possible.
Think about the depth of the sink. How far from the edge of the sink are the faucet holes? Are there cabinets or shelves above the sink that would make it difficult to bend over?
- If you have a compact sink, consider a shorter spout - look for one that extends to the plug hole, but no further.
- A lower spout will work well where space is limited, or choose a taller one if you want to be able to wash your face comfortably.
- For larger bathrooms and washbasins, a long spout may be more suitable.
- Again, a taller sink faucet will work well in a functional room where the sink is used for many tasks.
- A swivel spout may also come in handy.
Finally, if you want to add luxury to your bathroom, take a look at this photo of a waterfall faucet style sink faucet. When the tap is open, water flows in a stream and falls like a waterfall into the sink. This is a great way to make a statement in your bathroom.
Shower-spout switching mechanisms
With an eccentric mechanism, switching occurs with a rotational motion. Among its disadvantages are bulkiness and rapid wear of replaceable parts with frequent switching.
A similar cartridge mechanism for a bathroom shower mixer has a modest size, its switching is smoother, but if it wears out, it will require a replacement from the same manufacturer.
The most reliable option is a ball switching system; it is integrated with the main mechanism of the mixer and if it fails, it will require a complete replacement.
There is also a compact mechanism with a cork deviator with up-down switching, which is also not subject to repair.
Types of faucets
You'll find a wide variety of faucet styles and designs in stores, including traditional vanity, bathtub, and sink/shower faucets.
There are also wall-mounted and free-standing faucets.
- Faucets waterfall
Waterfall taps are very popular these days as they allow water to flow smoothly into your sink, providing a calming and very relaxing effect.
- Wall mounted
Wall mounted faucets are ideal for saving space on your sink and can really give your bathroom a modern look.
- High lift mixers
Tall faucets, designed specifically for use with countertop sinks, are taller than regular faucets so they can be mounted on a vanity or countertop. A high rise basin faucet is a great option to match your countertop.
- Touchless faucet
When washing your hands with a regular faucet, you must touch it with dirty hands to turn it on, leaving behind germs, bacteria and viruses. Thus, sensor-controlled sink faucets are a good alternative to improve handwashing hygiene.
Since the faucet is controlled by an infrared sensor, you don't have to touch it at all, and germs and bacteria are less likely to spread.
Touchless tap water supply is optimized for proper mixing of cold and hot water. Such hygienic sink faucets provide automatic rinsing so that the water does not stagnate.
In addition, thermal disinfection is available. Because the faucet is rarely touched, cleaning can be done less often than with a regular faucet.
Features of drilling through enamel
In addition to the usual tools, such as a marker, tape measure, screwdriver and drill, you will need a special feather drill designed for drilling glass and ceramics, as well as transparent tape and a piece of plasticine. After marking, the drilling site should be carefully sealed with tape.
Then you need to make a round side from a piece of plasticine and stick it around the circumference so that the place for drilling is in the center. The area limited by the plasticine side should be three times the size of the hole for the mixer. It turns out to be a flat round platform with a side. You need to pour water into it.
After this, you can start drilling in the center of the marking. It is recommended to use a drill with a diameter of 6mm at a speed of about 500-600 revolutions. The pressure should be moderate. During such careful drilling, a narrow through hole will appear in the side of the bathtub, through which the water present at the drilling site will flow out.
Now you should make a small cap from plasticine and stick it to the bottom of the side so that the resulting hole is in the center. You need to pour water again and re-drill using a 12 mm drill. The pressure should be light. When the drill goes right through the side, you can remove all the plasticine and evaluate the quality of the work; chips on the enamel should be minimal.
After this, you need to widen the hole to the required size to install the mixer. To do this, new markings are made, indicating the boundaries of the hole. The surface must be sealed again with transparent tape.
The hole should be widened using a grinder using a rubber attachment with sandpaper. The speed should be set to maximum, but the applied force should remain minimal.
Experts do not recommend that beginners make holes in the side of a cast iron or steel bathtub themselves. Problems are caused by the presence of enamel, which performs not only decorative, but also protective functions. If drilling is done incorrectly, there is a high risk of irreversible damage to this layer.
When the hole is wide enough, you can use a nozzle with a diameter of 20 mm. It should be understood that with minimal effort, which will protect the enamel from damage, the work will not progress too quickly. You will have to work with the grinder for more than an hour. When the hole is ready, insert the o-ring into it and install the mixer in the usual manner.
There are other ways to accurately drill into enamel surfaces. Some craftsmen simply glue a metal plate to the enamel and drill through such a “sandwich”. The metal will protect the enamel from damage. Others carefully remove some of the enamel with a grinder before drilling, and then drill with a hole saw.
Finally, there is a way to drill into cast iron with a diamond core cutter using a wood jig. But in this case, the cutter must be cooled quite often by pouring water on it.
What else needs to be considered
All products are accompanied by full specifications, including:
- Minimum and maximum pressure
- Base diameter
- Spout protrusion
- Weight
It is always recommended to check these specifications carefully to ensure they meet your requirements.
The required size of your new faucet will likely be determined by the surface area around the sink or bathtub. Before purchasing, look at the diameter of your faucet base to make sure it will fit.
Built-in
Its advantages are compactness and operational reliability.
Note!
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The disadvantages of such a mixer are the difficulty of repair.
