ToolBeltTerri

I have this shower that I swear was designed for munchkins. Sorry, if I have offended short people, but I have a 6 ft son and the shower head hits him about the neck. It was fine while they were children, but it’s time for it to fit big people. So you guessed it, we are going to change it. It is a fairly simple procedure.

This is what we are replacing it with.


First thing you have to do is take a pipe wrench and remove the old shower head. As long as the shower is turned off, you don’t have to worry about water going everywhere. There is no need to turn the main water off for this. Now remember when you are taking the shower head off, “Rightsy - Tightsy” “Lefty - Loosey”. Just use the wrench enough so you can untwist it by hand.


Take a utility knife and remove the flange. (Yea, the silver ring thingy.) Using your utility knife, clean off the old caulk from the tile. If you have a fiberglass surround, be careful not to gouge it. Now take a rag and clean out the pipe where the threads are. If there is debris in there, it may not seal properly and you don’t want water running down the inside of your wall.


To put the shower head on the new neck, first, you have to put Teflon tape around the threaded end of your neck. This helps to seal it. Wrap the tape around 3 or 4 times and pull it tight so it forms to the threads. Now remember in which direction the head screws on to the neck because you want the tape winding in the same direction. If it is going in the wrong direction, you will unwind the tape when you screw the head on. Use a wrench to tighten the head. Don’t over tighten it. You can tighten it later if it is leaking.


Put Teflon tape on the other end of the neck. Put the flange on the neck also, and screw it back into the wall tightening it as much as you can by hand. Take the wrench and tighten it the rest of the way.



Use a dry cloth and push it into the hole and turn the water on. Let it run for a little bit, and turn it off. You will be able to see if the shower head is leaking. Pull the rag out and see if it is wet. Tighten and repeat until there are no more leaks.


Caulk the flange to the tile to seal it.


You are done! If you want to replace just the shower head, just unscrew the old one. Take off any old Teflon tape. Re-tape the neck, and screw the new one on. Yea, it’s just that easy!


Happy Fixing!