Kohler Bancroft shower valve "doesn't fit" in newly built bath

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S.taylor

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We have just gone through 13 weeks of complete gut, removal of all floors, old pipes, everything, in two bathrooms in a small city house. There have been lots of problems, from a (now fired) construction head on the project, to a really sloppy plumber. The plumbing was done in cast iron and copper (for a price). But the plumber did not read the book on sight, and installed the toilet way way off center. It has to be moved and centered. The plumbing company sent another plumber. That one says that it can't be done in cast because the "elbows only come in certain sizes". So we have okayed that much noisy PVC just to center the toilet.

Worse problem is the master bath shower valve. It is a Bancroft 3 way (not temp adjust). The valve was installed sticking too far out in the wall and now the plumber is saying "we will have to come through the rear bedroom wall. That wall is 85 year old lathe and plaster wall. Not happening. The construction people were there every step of the way as this plumbing went in. Everything was built knowing exactly what we were putting in for fixtures. There was a project book at all times on the sight (can these people even read?). Now it is found by the (late) replacement construction lead, that there is a piece missing in back of the handle of the faucet. It was "probably thrown away". That is the piece which screws over the valve, then the handle and face plate should sit over it, and that makes it watertight. Instead, the plumber, attempting to hide his mistake, caulked around it. Still, the handle was not flush, so he was discovered.

My question after all that ranting, is, if we switch to a two way valve, will it reduce the depth of the valve, and save us a rebuild of the wall? We really don't want to go through that (again).
 

hj

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Is the handle too far out or the plate? The handle could be too far out for YOUR liking and still be the way the manufacturer intended it by the min/max dimensions. Kohler will send the missing part if you contact them.
 

Reach4

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I am not a plumber. No experience. I just did some searching and musing.

http://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1049066_4.pdf shows the trim choices in that Bancroft family. It only lists these two as alternatives I think -- both the same size. The same units do 2- and 3-way.

DIVERTER VALVE
http://www.us.kohler.com/us/Masters...alve/productDetail/Transfer+Valves/429025.htm
737
Length 3-15/16"

TRANSFER VALVE
HTTP://www.us.kohler.com/us/Masters...alve/productDetail/Transfer-Valves/428155.htm
728
Length 3-15/16"

I am not sure of the difference between a diverter and a transfer valve, but I suspect the diverter will let water come out of the shower head if you were to block the spout.

How much more clearance would you need? Maybe you could cut away some clearance from the tub side, by sanding (sanding drum on a Dremel tool comes to mind) into some lath, without messing with the plaster on the other side. If you were worried about creating a weakness, you could add some reinforcement to the remaining lath.

If worst comes to worst, could you live with a similar spout with a pull-up diverter? Ideally somebody would know of a shallow diverter that your Bancroft trim would fit on.
 
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