Everyone likes to take a nice hot shower at the end of a long day. But if your filthy old showerhead hasn’t been changed since the 80s, you and your family might be finding it difficult to relax and enjoy that shower as much as you used to.
The good news is that replacing a showerhead is a great DIY home improvement project – even for beginners. So here are five tips for replacing your showerhead quickly and easily.
1. Don’t Buy the Wrong Shower Head
Before you even start replacing anything, it’s first important to make sure that you get the right shower head for your bathroom. So take a look at the pipe – called the shower arm – to which you’ll attach your new shower head.
Most shower arms come out of the wall, and most shower heads are designed to be wall-mounted.
But some custom showers will have the pipe extending overhead from the ceiling. So make sure you get a shower head designed for your particular situation.
Other than that, you just need to decide if you want the basic fixed shower head or one with a hose attachment. Whichever one you choose, for a few bucks more, make sure to get one with multiple massage and streaming options.
2. Clean the Shower Arm Threads
Most shower heads are easily removed. You simply unscrew it from the shower arm, and then the new shower head screws right on in the same way.
But before you install the new one, make sure to clean the threads on the shower arm. There will be some old teflon tape on there, and you’ll probably also have some gunky residue or even corrosion. Use an old rag and a toothbrush to scrub those threads clean to help you get a good seal when attaching the new shower head.
3. Wrap Plumber’s Tape Clockwise Around Threads
Next, you’ll need to wrap a new strip of teflon tape – often called plumber’s tape – around the shower arm threads.
Using a good six to ten inches, start at the lip of the pipe and wind the tape around several times as you work your way up the threads and then back down to the lip. Make sure to wrap the tape in a clockwise direction, and press it firmly into those threads.
Do not wrap counterclockwise! If you do, then the tape will begin to loosen as you tighten down the shower head, and that could compromise your seal and cause water to leak out at the joint. Wrap the tape clockwise, so that when you screw down the new head clockwise, everything seals up nice and tight.
If you see the metal threads poking through the tape, then keep wrapping until you just see tape.
4. Carefully Screw Showerhead Down Tightly
Next, you just install the new showerhead by screwing it on nice and tight. Be very careful that you screw it down straight without cross-threading. That would ruin the threads and cause water to leak too.
Then just run the water for a minute or two and check if there are any leaks coming from the shower arm/head joint. If you see any leaks, undo everything and repeat the above steps with some extra teflon tape and make sure that the threads are properly aligned as you screw down the new showerhead.
5. Extend the Life of Your New Showerhead
After you’ve got everything installed properly, all you need to do now is take good care of your new showerhead. If you give it a good cleaning a few times per year, you can keep it looking shiny and new for years to come.
A common DIY hack for cleaning showerheads is to put the showerhead in a plastic bag and fill it with white vinegar so that all the holes are completely submerged. Then leave it like this for maybe an hour. If your showerhead hasn’t been cleaned in ages, then you could soak it overnight to get it clean.
Installing a new showerhead is actually one of the easiest home improvement jobs you’ll encounter. By following the five tips above, you’ll get the job done in no time. And you and your family will love taking long, hot showers again.