mike's web log/comments

I had an addition put on my house a couple of years ago, which included a master bath with a stand-up shower. (No tub for me! :-) ) Ever since the thing was finished, the water pressure in the new shower has never been so great, and over time it's gotten worse. I tested the supply to the bathroom itself, and that seemed ok, so the problem seemed to be with the shower itself.

So, ok, holiday's done, back to fun. Today I dismantled the shower from the back, going through my closet. I wanted to get the valve body out so I could see if there were blockage or something. The removal took some doing, as it was not installed with the idea of being removed. But I managed to get it out. I disassembled the valve body, and sure enough, the thing had a stupid restrictor valve in it that moreover had gotten silted up or something.

So I took the restrictor valve clean out, since I'd never had decent pressure with it in place. Then I spent some time reconstructing the shower, which gave me a chance to do some soldering. (Fire! Melting things!) I was pleased that I got everything back together and could turn the water on again by mid-afternoon. Here's where the backend of it stands now:



Fixing up the wallboard is not critical to having a working shower, so I'll get around to doing that patch Real Soon Now.

As with most home improvement projects, there were delays with bits I thought would be easy, and the job did not go quite as I thought. But it wasn't unenjoyable, and it works, and I now have a most excellent blast-o shower, which is what I'd wanted all along.