Overflowing bathtubs can cause a huge mess in your clean bathrooms, especially if you have your entire bathroom carpeted. You will therefore need to make sure that your bathtub overflow drain is replaced periodically to avoid such messes from happening.
- When you have your bathtub installed, you should always ensure that you have an access door to your overflow drain installed as well to give you access to all the pipes that you will need to change.
- To do so, you must first locate your pipes. Also, if your pipes are going to be located near the wall, it would be practical to have your pipes on a wall that faces the inside of your house, instead of one that you share with your neighbours.
- Depending on the type of bathtub that you have installed, your pipes may be exposed and hence easier to work with, or even hidden underground or behind a wall. If your pipes are exposed, you may begin work now.
- However, if you have hidden pipes which you don’t have access to, you will need to make a tiny hole, depending on where your pipes are located.
- If your pipes are located underground, you will notice a leak (and God forbid, an ugly watermark) on the ceiling right below your bathtub.
- This can be quite embarrassing and hard to deal with if you are living in an apartment with someone else occupying the unit downstairs. If there are no leaks, then your pipes would most likely be hidden in the wall.
- Once you have located your pipes, make a small hole that is just big enough for you to access the pipes. When you have finished replacing the overflow tub, do not seal the hole that you have made. Instead, make a small door so that you can easily access it when you need to again.
- First, remove the old overflow tub. Your overflow tub may not come out in one piece and therefore, you may need to remove it bit by bit. To ensure that you have all of it removed, look at your new overflow tub to identify the beginning and the end of it. Also, you may need to study the new overflow tub that you have bought to replace the old one to see how you can remove it bit by bit.
- Next, install the new overflow tub piping in. Put a bead of Teflon paste o the overflow pipe at the top of the bathtub before you tighten the two bolts up to seal it better.
- Turn the faucets on and fill the tub up all the way to the top. Leave the water there for about a day to make sure that there are no leaks in the pipes.
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gretyl/54299288/
