Modernising your Kitchen Taps

Here is an interesting and informative article about modernising your kitchen or bathroom taps. This relatively cheap job can enhance your living accommodation no end and modernize it in the process. Most of the larger DIY stores have a number of these easy to fit tap inserts. Also if you want to pay a little more money you can even convert your old rubber seal compression style taps for the more modern ceramic kind.

The ceramic type turns from off to on in just 360 degrees, whereas the old kind turns many revolutions from off to full on and vice versus. In nut shell, the job is to remove your old tap handles and replacing them with the more modern kind. Interested? If so, then read on. Decide firstly which of your existing taps you want to replace. The next stage is to visit one or more of the high street retailers until you have found the tap handles which you like. Having picked your taps, you can now take your great purchases home.

The next stage is to locate the stop cocks which will turn off the water flowing to your taps. Both ,hot and cold. If your plumbing has been fitted within the last ten or twelve years then there is a good possibility each tap will have its own isolation valve beneath the sink unit or in the case of bath taps you will probably have to remove the bath side panel to find the valves. If you dont want to look for the service valves then you may simply turn off the water from the mains. It is a good idea to switch of the power to the boiler as well although without a water flow the boiler will not function anyway, just good practice to do it. Anyway, turn off the water using you preferred method. Test it by turning on the tap in question; if no water to both taps then you can proceed to the next stage.

Look on the top of your existing taps and you will see a round cap usually with a red or green circle. Get a very small and thin screw driver and insert it into the edge of the red or green ring, push down and hook it out. Underneath will be a screw which you can undo turning it in an anti-clockwise direction. Wiggle the handle and lift it off. Next grasp the tap body whilst using a pair of grips to undo the hexagon nut which you will find there. Turn it in an anti-clockwise direction until it releases itself. When loose, lift the insert out complete from the body of the tap. Now all you need to do is to screw your new insert into the tap body and tighten it up. The topmost part of the new insert will be a splined vertical shaft. Place your new tap handle onto this spline and tap down fully. Screw the screw into place and fit either the red or green cap to correspond with your hot or cold supply. You repeat this process to all the other taps you intend to modernise.

Now all you have to do to complete the job is to turn on the water supplies and switch on power to appliances which you switched off. Job done! Well done.

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