The shower in the family room bathroom is long and narrow. The faucets are all Delta Water Sense and I chose the champagne bronze color for this bathroom. The color is similar to brass which I thought would give it a more rustic appearance. It was not easy finding discounts on all the parts for the shower and sink but I was able to order everything from Amazon or Ebay at reduced cost. Thank goodness as faucets are ridiculously expensive. As it is the most expensive part of the bathroom was this hardware.
The shower valve is generic Delta and can work with most of the trim packages that are sold separately. My son-in-law pointed out how handy it is to have Delta shower faucets because they have separate controls for the temperature and the flow. The temperature can stay set from shower to shower. With a temp controlled valve like the one I bought for the master shower (17T), the temp is automatically regulated to stay the same even if the hot and cold ratio changes, but I have less expensive pressure controlled valve (17) in this shower which makes the pressure of hot and cold balance but not the temperature. The rough in valve was installed about the same height as in the master bath, or about 44 inches from the finished shower floor.
Shower Valve
Since this is a large shower, it seemed as though a hand held shower would be a big help for both cleaning the shower and for an additional source of spray. I didn’t want the hand held right next to the shower head so I looked for installations that placed it on the opposite or side wall. I decided that the best position would be next to a bench that I hope to install at the opposite end of this shower head. The diverter valve is a bit smaller than the shower valve and with the furring on the wall there was about enough space to install it flush with the eventual finished wall.
Depth for Diverter Valve
I reused the 1/2″ copper from the demolition to install the diverter valve. Copper has a bit wider inside dimension than 1/2″ pex so I thought it would be more likely to deliver a higher volume to the spray. And I had the copper to reuse.
Diverter Installation
The supply pipes I used had originally fed the washer and dryer in the utility room before the demolition. These pipes are connected directly to the cold and hot water sources and don’t go through the water loop. But the proximity to the heater means that there should not be a very long wait for hot water at this connection. Plus the service is 3/4″ copper to the wall that holds the valve. I installed two shutoffs in the utility room that control just this shower.
3/4 inch Shutoffs
The copper connects to 1/2″ pex and to the shower valve in the wall.
Copper to Pex
Since I was running out of elbows, I just bent the pex in a wide arc to fit in the wall and connect to the shower valve.
Pex Shower Connections
The copper feeds the diverter valve and then goes back to the shower head. The valve will allow the shower head to spray, or the sliding hand shower, or both.
Reused Copper to Diverter Valve
I also reused the metal plates that protect the pipes in the furring studs. I had just enough to do this section.
Next I have to put the sink faucet and toilet plumbing into the walls and set up for a wall mount faucet to the sink.