How to replace shower plumbing.

Posted by on April 10, 2006, 9:28 am

My house has a 50 year old shower head coming out of the wall. The
copper pipe coming out of the wall is old, tarnished and ugly - I would
love to replace it. (This is the pipe onto which the shower head
attaches via a thread).

I've given it a tentative twist, but it seems like it's not going to
budge. What I don't know is whether the pipe coming out of the wall is
actually screwed into something, or whether it's welded. Can anyone
help here?

Assuming I don't want to destroy the wall, and the pipe is not
screwable, does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning up the ugly
copper pipe to make it at least look presentable? Is there any way to
chrome it in place?

Posted by Doug Kanter on April 10, 2006, 10:07 am

> My house has a 50 year old shower head coming out of the wall. The
> copper pipe coming out of the wall is old, tarnished and ugly - I would
> love to replace it. (This is the pipe onto which the shower head
> attaches via a thread).
> I've given it a tentative twist, but it seems like it's not going to
> budge. What I don't know is whether the pipe coming out of the wall is
> actually screwed into something, or whether it's welded. Can anyone
> help here?
> Assuming I don't want to destroy the wall, and the pipe is not
> screwable, does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning up the ugly
> copper pipe to make it at least look presentable? Is there any way to
> chrome it in place?

No access behind the wall, in a closet, etc?

Posted by Goedjn on April 10, 2006, 2:23 pm

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:07:18 GMT, "Doug Kanter"

>> My house has a 50 year old shower head coming out of the wall. The
>> copper pipe coming out of the wall is old, tarnished and ugly - I would
>> love to replace it. (This is the pipe onto which the shower head
>> attaches via a thread).
>> I've given it a tentative twist, but it seems like it's not going to
>> budge. What I don't know is whether the pipe coming out of the wall is
>> actually screwed into something, or whether it's welded. Can anyone
>> help here?
>> Assuming I don't want to destroy the wall, and the pipe is not
>> screwable, does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning up the ugly
>> copper pipe to make it at least look presentable? Is there any way to
>> chrome it in place?

It's probably soldered. Why don't you just paint the thing?

Posted by Jeff on April 10, 2006, 11:06 am

Two choices if you leave in place

Use chemicals for copper cookware to remove tarnish, maybe lightly sand and
paint with a clear lacquer to prevent future tarnishing.

Lightly sand and paint with an oil based enamel a neutral color.

Posted by mikeytag on April 10, 2006, 2:26 pm

If the house has copper piping than you can pretty much bet that it is
welded in place. Unscrewing it is going to be unfruitful. If it is welded
you need to cut off the pipe and weld a new piece on, usually a job for a
plumber who knows what he is doing. I think the copper cleaner that Jeff
talked about is your best idea. Copper doesn't rust so the pipe is still
good, maybe you can clean it to your liking.

Mike

>My house has a 50 year old shower head coming out of the wall. The
>copper pipe coming out of the wall is old, tarnished and ugly - I would
>love to replace it. (This is the pipe onto which the shower head
>attaches via a thread).
>I've given it a tentative twist, but it seems like it's not going to
>budge. What I don't know is whether the pipe coming out of the wall is
>actually screwed into something, or whether it's welded. Can anyone
>help here?
>Assuming I don't want to destroy the wall, and the pipe is not
>screwable, does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning up the ugly
>copper pipe to make it at least look presentable? Is there any way to
>chrome it in place?

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