How to fit new taps
You have just purchased your brand new Ideal Standard taps and now you only need to fit them. You could call a professional to do this for you, or you may want to do it yourself. If you fancy getting stuck in, follow our comprehensive guide below.
Turn off the water
It may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many people forget this. The first and arguably the most important job is to turn off the water supply to the tap. Failure to do this could see liquid shooting in all directions as you remove your old tap, which would not only create a mess, but also be a waste of the resource.
You should also place the plug in the sink as this means any water sitting in the pipes or faucet will not be lost.
Remove the old tap
Now, you must remove your old taps so you can replace them. There should be a nut below the tap underneath the shell of the bath or sink and you can unscrew this, using a special basin spanner with cranked jaws if it is in a hard-to-reach space.
To make life easier, you can use another adjustable spanner to fix the tap in position and prevent it from turning as you unscrew the nut.
Fit a connecter
Unless you are incredibly lucky, it is unlikely your new taps will exactly fit your pipes, in which case you will require a connector. This is a tube with a threaded tap connector at one end and a compression fitting at the other. If the base of your new taps are plastic, use a connector made from the same material, fitting the connector end to the tap's tail using a wrench.
Again, you can steady your tap by holding it in a wrench, but wrap a cloth around it first so it is not scratched.
Plumb in the connector
Next you need to connect the compression end of your tube to the water pipes. You may need to cut the pipe to fit exactly, but be sure to use a proper pipe-cutting device to do this in order to get a tidy finish.
Use a compression fitting to link your flexible connector to the pipe and fix the cap nut in place. Push on this joint until you feel that the pipe is secure, before turning the nut by hand. You can then hold the fitting in place with one of your spanners while using the other to turn the nut so it is tight.
Now the piping is complete, you should fit all the washers you require and ensure the tap is fixed correctly to the bath or sink.
Check for leaks
You can now turn the water supply back on in order to test that it all works. At this stage, it is vital to ensure no part of the system is leaking since you did the job. Small leaks can probably be rectified by tightening all of the joins between various pipes. However, if this goes unchecked you could be left with a slow leak that may cause significant damage in the future.
If this does not appear to be what is causing the leak, you should contact a plumber to drain your plumbing system and check what the problem is.
