Changing a shower head is a surprisingly easy and fast update for your home:Step 1: Decide you need a new shower head
This could be because you want a new multi option shower head, you want a low flow energy saver shower head or because your shower head attacked you.
Mine attacked me. At 7 am. On the first day of living in the house. The previous owners of our new house had installed handheld shower hoses in our showers. During that first shower, I reached up to adjust where the handheld shower hose head was pointing. The shower didn’t like this and the head part of the shower hose went flying into the air, followed by water. Lots of water. Water that shot straight into the ceiling of the shower, over the shower curtain and all over the floor, the rug and my nice dry towels. It looked like I had taken a shower outside the curtain. It was fun to clean up. At 7 am. On the first day living in the house.
This is when I decided we needed a new shower head. Please note that any reason is valid.
Step 2: Go to the store and pick out the new showerhead.
There are many types of shower heads. Be prepared with some budget of what you would like to spend (I found that the majority of them were $50 or less at a large home store) and if you want any fancy options - as mentioned before there are multi setting shower heads that include settings for massage, drench, spray, etc.
Also, make sure that you have everything the package says you need. Silicon tape is a commonly used item in plumbing repair so make sure that you pick some up or it is included in the package. It is a little ring of white tape, usually found over by plumbing.
Step 3: Take off the old (in my case, evil) shower head.
Simply unscrew the old shower head at the base. You may need to use pliers to do this on a really tight shower head - wrap the pinching part of the pliers in masking tape to prevent marring the shower head and arm.
Once the shower head is off, remove any leftover silicon tape using a rag - this will be white and in the threads of the remaining shower arm. Using an exacto or craft knife to slit the tape may also make it easier if the rag isn’t helping.
Step 4: Install the new (in my case, not evil) shower head.
Wrap the now clean threads of the shower arm in silicon tape. Wrap the tape around the threads clockwise until you have 3 to 4 layers - this is really important to prevent leaks, only go clockwise! Take the new shower head and screw it on, making sure not to cross thread it. Tighten it by hand unless the directions say to use a wrench or pliers - then use the masking tape covered pliers and give it a half a turn.
Run the shower and watch for any leaks at the base of the new shower head - if you don’t see any you are good to go! If you notice some leaking, you might need to tighten the shower head a little more.
Step 5: Enjoy your new shower!
Pretty self explanatory, don’t you think?
Emilie
