Do you need to have a repair made to one of the showers in your home?
It can cost anywhere from $45 to $150 per hour on average to have a plumber come to your home to fix it. You might also have to take off a day from work when you have a plumber perform shower repair for you.
Rather than relying on a plumber for shower repair services, why not try to make repairs to your shower on your own? There are some repair jobs that are simple enough for homeowners to do themselves regardless of how much plumbing experience they have.
Here are 8 easy shower repairs you can do yourself at home without help from a plumber.
1. Replace Old Showerhead
Have you been using the same showerhead in your shower for more than a decade now? It’s probably time for you to replace it!
Outside of the fact that your old showerhead is likely dragging the aesthetic appeal of your bathroom down, it might also be very dirty. And the last thing you want to do is clean yourself every morning or night with a dirty showerhead.
An older showerhead is easy enough to replace. With little more than a wrench and a little elbow grease, you can remove your old showerhead once you’ve shut your water off. You can then replace it with a brand-new one by screwing it into place.
Just make sure you use thread tape to prevent pressurized water from leaking out of your showerhead. It’ll look so much better than your old one once it’s in place and allow you to make the most of your showers moving forward.
2. Improve Low Water Pressure
When you have low water pressure in your shower, it can make it hard to rinse shampoo out of your hair or rinse soap off your body. It can also make showers a lot less pleasant than they should be.
There are a number of things that can cause low water pressure. An old showerhead might be to blame for it. But it might also be caused by a faulty shower diverter valve.
The shower diverter valve sits behind your showerhead. It should twist right off so that you can replace it when you remove your showerhead.
Read more about low water pressure if you’re having a tough time fixing it on your own.
3. Put New Shower Caulk Into Place
If the caulk around the edges of your shower has seen better days, you should strongly consider replacing it. It’ll improve the look of your shower and stop water from leaking out of your shower at any point.
To replace old shower caulk with new shower caulk, you’ll need to:
- Remove old caulk with a razor blade
- Clean the area where the old caulk was with rubbing alcohol
- Use mold killer on the area where the new caulk will go
- Utilize a caulking gun to put your new caulk into place
You’ll be amazed by what a difference fresh caulk can make to the look and feel of your bathroom space.
4. Install a New Shower Drain Flange
You might not notice it much, but your shower’s drain flange plays a very important role in its operation. It sits around the drain for your shower and seals the joint right in between your shower and the drain assembly below.
If your drain flange isn’t creating a tight enough seal, it can cause a leak below your shower. Therefore, it’s essential for you to fix a drain flange at the first sign of trouble.
You can do this by:
- Removing your drain cover
- Removing your drain flange
- Cleaning the opening for your drain
- Putting a new drain flange in and sealing it with plumber’s putty
- Testing your drain flange to make sure it doesn’t leak
This is one of the more complicated shower repair jobs for homeowners. But as long as you follow these steps, it should still be plenty doable for the average person.
5. Eliminate a Clogged Drain
Are you standing in six inches of water every time you take a shower? There is likely a clog in your shower drain that’s stopping water from flowing freely.
Try using a plunger to remove the clog. If that doesn’t work, you can purchase a plumbing snake that should do the trick.
Whatever you do, try not to dump a bunch of harmful chemicals down the drain. They can do more harm than good and might even ruin your plumbing pipes over time.
6. Remove and Replace Old Tile Grout
Do you hate the way the grout in between your shower tiles looks?
You can attempt to clean it to fix the problem. You can also apply a special grout restorer to bring it back to life.
But if you can’t save the grout, you can use a grout scraper to remove it and replace it. It can be a painstaking process that takes a lot of time. But it’ll be well worth the time and effort you put into it when you’re done.
7. Replace Old Shower Fixtures
When people hear the words “shower repair,” they usually associate it with replacing an old showerhead. But it’s important to remember that you can also replace old shower fixtures, like the handles used to turn a shower on, to improve the look of the space.
Consider prying your old shower fixtures off if they don’t work well anymore or if they’re hurting the appearance of your bathroom.
8. Install New Shower Doors
This is one of the most advanced shower repair jobs, but it’s not as hard as it might seem. You can install new shower doors in your bathroom in a matter of just a few hours.
Follow these steps to get the job done:
- Remove your old shower doors and all of the hardware that goes along with them
- Install side rails for your new shower doors
- Put rubber spacers for your new side rails into place
- Install center and top rails for your new shower doors
- Apply a glazing strip to the glass for your shower doors
- Attach the shower doors by installing the hinges for them to your rails
All shower doors operate a little bit differently. Read through the instructions for your specific doors to make sure you put the doors in the right way.
Tackle Your Next Shower Repair Project Yourself
As you’ve seen, shower repair projects aren’t all that difficult to pull off in most cases. You can install a new showerhead or replace a drain flange without calling on a plumber for assistance.
If, however, you run into any road bumps, it’s not a bad idea to bring a plumber in to work on your shower. They can make sure your shower repair is done right and help you avoid running into any problems in the future.
Check out our blog to see some of the other ways a plumber can help with your home’s plumbing system.
