Basins with 3/4" tap holes

[Tim W]

Hmm.

Rather been caught out. Bought some bath taps (3/4") and some basin taps (1/2") in the same make and style. In fact the tap bodies are as near as dammit identical sizes all over, except for the base which is a little wider on the 3/4".

Bought bathroom sink later. Having just installed it, I was slightly surprised to find it had 3/4" tap holes in the ceramic.

It's only a little basin. Is this normal?

I'm tempted to buy more taps in 3/4" and ebay the 1/2" ones (or make sure shower room basin #2 has 1/2" holes!).

Before I do that, am I missing something - like say the possibility of using some sort of reducer? I suspect that may leave the 1/2" taps not very well bedded and thus wobbly - but it's worth not being hasty...

Ta

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

It can work. Car body filler drilled out, or cast round a tube..

Or simply a big washer underneath.and fil gaps with silicone..

[1501]

Can you not fill the space by making up a spacer by cutting a short length of something like alkathene pipe?

[PeterC]

I needed the same last time I fitted basin taps (although ISTR that the holes were a bit bigger than that ?). Had a couple of rough plastic back nuts for 1/2" tails, so cut out the thread, had to round the corners slightly, then they fitted in snugly and were only a couple of mm thinner than the basin.

[The Medway Handyman]

[Tim W]

The Medway Handyman wibbled on Monday 19 October 2009 20:42

That is very useful - thanks Dave.

What is it with bathroom manufacturers that they have to make *every* hole

30-50% oversized. No way is that the tolerance on the process, even for ceramic.

Even my acrylic bath which had holes drilled for the overflow and waste

*and* supplied with the correct parts for that bath are as sloppy as hell. I can locate and drill tap holes in the same bath with 2mm of slop and +/-1mm of precision - why can't they?

[Jules]

Maybe they expect you to change parts or even the whole bath / sink / whatever whilst still integrating with existing plumbing - i.e. a replacement might need to shift 1/4" or so to fit properly, so they use over-sized holes to allow this?

That or they're just designed by idiots :-)

[YAPH]

Are you sure they're 3/4"? It's usual for tap holes to be much larger as you describe, so the tap tails fit them "like a turd in a shirt-sleeve" (an eloquent turn of phrase picked up from one of my tech lecturers :-))

I cut a 1/4 length of 22mm plastic plumbing pipe or overflow pipe or whatever's handy, slit if necessary, and slip it over the tap tails to center them in the hole. You can buy little centering gatgets for this.

[Tim W]

YAPH wibbled on Tuesday 20 October 2009 01:00

I tried a 3/4" bath tap in them and it fits very nicely. Still a little slop (few mm) which makes me sure that they were designed to be 3/4".

I tried again with Dave's Screwfix widget in mind. In the end, due to the top of the hole sloping meant that the tap didn't bear on much at all. I decided to buy new taps (all of 26 quid) and sell the others.

But that widget looks like something to remember.

[PeterC]

>

Also there's a limit to tightness on plastic - more so than on enamel - and the taps tend to slide or twist in use, so location is essential. Last bath that I fitted was a very good GRP one (20 year warranty - ran out the week before fitting!) with no holes except waste, so the taps went in a corner and the holes were a sliding fit.