Arrrrrrrrrrgh... the tub spout is too short

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MiamiCanes

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Well, chalk up one more unforseen "gotcha" I just discovered. I bought a shower+tub valve/spout/showerhead combo from Lowe's (Delta Lewiston 174902-SS) a few months ago. Tonight, while relocating it 3/4" to the left of where I originally mounted it so it will be centered properly with respect to the tub, I realized that the tub spout is ~6.5 inches long (measured from the part that sits flush against the wall to the center of its spout opening)... and water coming from it is going to land directly on the overflow drain's knob.

It won't stop me from taking a shower tonight, but it IS something that I'm going to have to fix in the near future.

Is this a disaster(*), or is it a fairly minor setback that can be rectified for $25 or less with an internet order for a slightly longer spout that's compatible finish-wise and physically with everything I've already installed?

(*)"Disaster" in this case means having to turn it into a shower-only set by plugging the lower valve that would otherwise lead to the filling spout, and buy a separate faucet with longer spout & run more water supply lines to it, because a longer spout would somehow screw up the delicate balance between the spout and showerhead.
 

MiamiCanes

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A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are two thousand of 'em...

stumpy.jpg
stumpy2.jpg
 

hj

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spout

IF you can find a longer spout in that finish it would not cause any problems. You will probably discover that any spout that meets your requirements is going to be fairly, if not quite, expensive.
 

Jadnashua

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What's going on the walls, and how thick is it? You would need a different nipple, but with the thickness of the wall, you may move the thing out enough to clear the overflow assembly.

Otherwise, search for a new spout!
 

MiamiCanes

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The Hardiebacker and tile haven't gone up yet... For the next week or so, the tub enclosure will be in plastic-wrapped limbo so it'll be usable until I have time to start on the walls & tile.

The back of the filler is approximately where it will be once the wall and tile are in place.

A longer nipple won't help, because the tub filler itself screws onto an adapter that screws onto the nipple. If anything would have to change length, it's the adapter that was bundled with the filler.
 

hj

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length

Longer nipples or adapters will not make any difference. The critical dimension is how far the opening is from the wall when the spout is touching it, and that dimension is NOT variable, no matter what else you do. The only way to make that spout "longer" would be to make the wall thicker.
 

MiamiCanes

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> The only way to make that spout "longer" would be to make the wall thicker.

Or, presumably, replace it with a longer spout from Delta that's stainless-steel (a.k.a. fake brushed nickel)?
 

hj

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Spout

Assuming they make a longer spout, which is not likely given that the regular one would fit 99.9999+ % of installations. You may have to go to a company such as California Brass, which makes "third party deluxe" faucets to get one, since that type of company usually makes several different length spouts. But one factor could be whether they make a diverter spout in various lengths, since many of their faucets have the diverter in the valve body, and thus do not need diverter spouts.
 

MiamiCanes

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Argh. Out of all the acrylic 42x72 tubs sold by Lowe's, I had to find the one messed-up model that needs an exotic spout because the tub's front was set back too far from the wall by the manufacturer. Making matters worse, I just looked at the tub's spec sheet again. Nowhere on it does it show the distance from the tile flange to the inside surface of the tub's front. It shows that the drain is set back 9" from the edge, but it says nothing about the setback of the tub basin itself :(

Know of any brushed-nickel finish cylinders that can be used to hide a longer nipple and move the spout another 3-4 inches beyond the wall's surface? Or maybe a normal-sized Delta spout that's designed to shoot the water forward instead of downward? Or am I stuck having to do something awful, like build a boxy projection from the wall hiding a longer nipple inside, mount the spout to the front, and try to masquerade the projection as a shampoo shelf or something?
 

Frenchie

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Googled "tub spout extender"

There's longer spouts out there, up to 10", but none I could find with a diverter. Could you plumb in an extra valve, instead? I mean, the wall's still open, all you'd need is an on/off valve to the spout... and they aren't cheap:

http://www.********.com/detail.asp?...le-_-product-_-12144-25-10&CAWELAID=227462968


edit: forum software is set to censor competitors - hope terry won't mind if I spell it out, this once: that last link is from

e f a u c e t s . c o m /

paste this:

12144-25-10

into their search box.
 
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MiamiCanes

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Hmmm. OK, the faucet extenders are definitely a step in the right direction... now I just need to find one that's not ugly, and I can claim was an intentional artistic design statement rather than a desperate attempt to avoid spending more on a spout than I spent on the valve and showerhead... say, a brushed nickel or stainless-steel cylinder that's about 5 inches diameter, and 2-3 inches long. Or maybe a 4"h x 4"w x 2"d rectangle of polished black granite with a 3/4" hole bored through it to accommodate the nipple. :)

A separate valve is just completely out of the question, unless we're talking about $100 max for the valve + longer spout... something I seriously doubt is even possible. I remember originally fantasizing about having a raincan showerhead + rod-mounted handheld, until I found out that the worst, cheapest A/B/A+B diverter valve you can possibly buy on e*ay and would never want to allow anywhere near your bathroom starts at $150, and the prices increase exponentially from there.
 
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