I hired a professional, but this doesnt look right...

[Blister64]

I'm in the process of finishing my basement and decided you hire out the plumbing work to speed things up a bit.

Had him install a Delta R22000 valve and diverter for the shower. The lower 2 ports where he attached the PEX are angled slightly towards the shower and go past the flat plain of the wall by about 1/4 to 1/2 inch, which means the drywall or hardibacker will be pushing against the PEX. When I mentioned it to him, his response was taking a 2x6, pushing the tubing back flush with the wall, and saying it'd be close but should work...

I'm afraid the wall material will be uneven, making the tile not flat and the faucet not flush against the tile, as well as the stress on the pic tubing and crimps if the lines are pushed back that hard (it's pretty damn hard to push back as it's so close to the valve).

I'm no professional plumber, but does this seem right?

 

[Jadnashua]

It may not be a problem. It could have easily been avoided by putting a stub on the lower fittings before the pex elbow to move those lines far enough out to the side to clear the upper ones instead of angling them as he did.

First, though, I'd temporarily mount the finished trim on the valve and see how far out it is to determine if both that you like the way it looks, and it will actually be able to tighten up to the finished wall once it is applied. Mock it up with a piece of 1/2" material and your choice of tile, if that's easier. A typical shower wall would have a backer (often 1/2" cement board), then thinset and tile. Depending on what you choose, the wall thickness can vary, sometimes, a lot. The instructions will list a min/max for the projection of the valve in relation to the finished wall...if it's too far out, the bracing behind it could be moved...if back was needed, that would solve the issue, but make it worse if it needs to move forward. To the manufacturer, as long as the trim fits, it's within specs...you have to look at it forever, so you may have preferences for it to be nearer the minimum projection verses maximum. Now's the time to get it where you want. You do not want it outside of those min/max limits. Too far out, and if your wall is up, you'd need access behind it to move things back. Too far in, you might be able to buy an optional extension kit, but that may make the handles stick out further than you want.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Blister64]

Thank you for the response sir

Looked at the install instructions and it is about spot on as far as depth (has +/- 1/4 inch tolerance). Moving it back will still either bow sheetrock or put a lot of pressure on the bend. I actually took a metal straight edge to the studs and it was bent out pretty significantly and would not lay flat even after pushing on it. He has to come back to finish connecting the PEX to the distribution block anyways, so I told him it needed to be redone due to the above reason. He didn't have a problem with it. I would much rather have him take the 30-45 minutes to redo something that could potentially be a headache down the line that would take a lot more time and money.

 

[Plumber69]

Unacceptable if you ask me