All,

I hope someone can help me with my current DIY project. My wife and I want to do a minor facelift to our master bath, and one thing tha we HATE are the fixtures. All of the faucets etc match in the bathroom but look horrible to us. In the past I have easily replaced faucets in the other bathrooms and kitchen, but apperantly there is alot more to replacing a shower faucet. From what I have read online I only want to replace the trim as the valve seems to be outside of my abilities to replace. As I understand it if I find the valve I am using then I can purchase a new trim (without valve) and attach it.

Does the above make sense and am I on the right track?
My faucet is a Delta, and the picture can be found here, I think its a "Delta Classic Monitor" but the cap on the end is different and the screws are in a different location. Faucet Here

Can anyone tell me what kind of valve or faucet I have and if the newer delta faucets would fit it? My wife and I really love the faucet here Victorian Monitor® 17 Series Shower Trim : Bath Products : Delta Faucet

And thanks in advance!

 

Unfortunately you will need to change out the entire valve body if you want to go with the Victorian faucet. Depending on what possible access you have to the valve this may not be as difficult as you now think. What is on the other side of the wall where the valve is located?

 

The shower sits on an exterier wall, do you know what kind of valve I have etc?

 

All I know about your faucet is that it is a Delta, which you already know. I suspect it is the one that the knob twists left and right to control temperature and lifts up to control volume. If I am correct about this you have a lousy faucet in my opinion.

I had the Delta I just described in my house along with Delta washbasin and kitchen sink faucets. I felt they were all junk and couldn't get rid of them fast enough. In my case replacement was fairly easy since the front bathroom tub faucet was backed by a bedroom closet and cutting the closet wall and subsequent patching was easy. In the back bathroom I ended up totally gutting the shower and installing a whirlpool tub and also relocated the plumbing from the outside wall to an interior wall.

Please understand that my comments on Delta are my personal opinion. There are many people, including professional plumbers, that think Delta is a quality product.

Hopefully Lawrosa will add his professional opinion.

 

Hi,

Delta was good back in the day when single lever diverters first came out. They were ahead of the times. Since they have not changed with the times, and still use the ball,spring,washer design, they are garbage in my opinion. They may have improved on thier technology today, but alittle too late. Other brands have surpassed them for looks, and reliability.

My personal choice is Moen. One part cartridge replacement, cheap priced parts, reliablity, looks.

Kohler is good, but parts are tripled in most cases, and cartridges have multiple springs, pressure balancers etc. Kohler has more designs for the higher end homes.

There is no other faucet I would recommend unless you get to real high end German stuff that cost as much as a stripped down Hyundai. (Ritz/Carlton stuff.)

Anyway, in my opinion the shower valve sets the design for the rest of the bath. You can change the valve from the front, and still maintain looks with a remodel plate. You will need a plumber that has done these before. NJ price with valve and install should run from $1000-$1200.

This is what I use. Its designed to replace a 3 handle, but also gives you the room the remove the old valve, and solder in the new.




Once you change the shower valve you get a matching lav faucet, new vanity, toilet, shower doors, paint, and you have a $2000 and under bathroom remodel.

Hope this helps.

Mike NJ

 

I dunno, Mike, that Moen 1200 series cartridge has been around for more than forty years that I know of. Some 20-30 years ago my parents had a Delta single handle in the kitchen and that thing needed to be rebuilt at least once a year because it wouldn't stay in the on position without slowly dropping closed. I finally installed a Moen and that was the end of any routine maintenance.

I've only installed Moen in my own homes and as stated earlier almost immediately upon moving into my present home. There may be other faucets that look a little better but I don't think you can get any better VALUE than a Moen.

 

Yes Furd. I have seen them all and rebuilt them all. I do stay away from the positemp moens because of price for cartridges. I installed all Moentrols in my home. They have the 1225B. Pull on, left right temp. All the faucets are moen 1225B.

Unfortunatly the homestores only sell positemps faucets. 1222 cartridge.

Back in the day the moentrols did not have the pressure balancer.( Its now built into the diverter.) If it needed service the wall would need opening. Just a note, I never saw one fail in my whole plumbing career.

People hoarded old stock of these when they made the change. I dont know if anyone remembers the trouble they had with the first pressure balancer faucets???? Any brand. People were rushing around buying all old stock.

Thats how I remember it.

Well Hopefully the OP will get some info from this. Funny most people buy for the looks, and dont think or care whats inside until its time to repair it.

Mike NJ