Shower Arm flange not flush with wall

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NCErinT

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The shower arms in my home (both bathrooms) were installed so that they are located just barely above the tile (instead of in the tile). That being said, the shower arm flange/escutcheon cannot sit flush against the wall in the MBA as there is only about 1/4” (*maybe*) between the shower arm and the top of the tile. The hall bath has even less space between the shower arm and the top of the tile.

This is not a functionality issue, just a cosmetic issue, but it drives me nuts to have the flange uselessly mocking me. The current flange/escutcheon has a 2.5” outside diameter and I was originally thinking of replacing it with a smaller diameter flange, but when I checked it tonight I realized that nothing is going to fit - there’s just not enough room.

If it helps, my home is a ranch built in 1979 & has copper pipe elsewhere in the house. Also, the shower arms of my master bath and ball bath are on opposite sides of the same wall. Hell, they might be out of the same pipe. So I cannot access the plumbing from the back side.

What are my options? Is there a fix that looks better then what I currently have?
- The real fix is the obvious - rip out the wall to move the shower arm. I don’t want to do this.
- Suck it up, do nothing.
- Cut off bottom of existing flange/escutcheon with tin snips? This will likely look pretty ragged??
- Add additional tile (that I don’t have) around shower arm? PS: this was my original idea to fix this before I determined that my shower tile is THICK - the face of the shower tile is more than 1/2” off the wall and that’s ignoring that the tile at the edges is curved.

Any thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 

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Reach4

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  1. One idea is to plaster/spackle the gap closed, smooth, and flat. Apply masking tape to the arm and the tile. Paint.
  2. I think you could cut an escucheon with something better than tin snips. Maybe some kind of saw. Then file/grind the final fit. There are plastic escutcheons that look like chrome that should be able to cut or file.
 

Reach4

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I have another thought. Rough cut an escutcheon with a saw or snips. Get another piece of that tile. Cover the tile with course sandpaper, and lay against a surface. Slide the escutcheon back and forth to remove material matching the profile of the tile. Switch to finer and finer sandpaper to get a clean grind to match the tile profile.
 

Dj2

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I'd raise the arm enough to have the flange sitting flat on the drywall.
To do this, cut the drywall from the top of the tiles up and over the arm and from stud to stud. After you move the arm, refinish the wall.
 
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