Service category
Shower and Bathtub Services
Repair and installation of showers and bathtubs, including valves, mixers, showerheads, slow drains and leaks reaching the floor or ceiling below.
- Licensed and insured
- Price agreed before work
- A plumber who works your area
Shower problems divide cleanly. Temperature and pressure faults are almost always the valve or the head. Anything that stains a ceiling below is a leak through the enclosure, and that is the one worth acting on quickly.
Temperature faults are valve faults
If the shower swings hot and cold when someone runs a tap elsewhere, the valve is the reason, not the water heater.
Older valves mix hot and cold at fixed proportions. When another fixture draws cold water away, the proportion shifts and the shower runs hot until the supply recovers, then overshoots cold. A pressure-balancing or thermostatic valve holds temperature steady as supply pressure moves, which is why they became standard.
If the shower simply will not get hot enough while the rest of the house has plenty of hot water, the fault is at the shower rather than the heater, and it is often a scald guard set conservatively that can be adjusted within a safe range.
Ceiling stains mean act now
A stain on the ceiling below a bathroom is the one shower symptom that should not wait.
By the time it shows, water has been getting into the floor structure for some time, and the source is usually the enclosure rather than the pipework: failed sealant or grout at the base of the wall, a cracked pan, or a waste connection that has worked loose.
The distinction matters for the repair. A pipe leak is fixed at the pipe. An enclosure leak means the water is passing the waterproofing, and sealing the surface without addressing that just hides it for a while.
In this category
Shower and Bathtub Services jobs we handle
Shower Repair
Repairing showers that drip, run cold, lose pressure or leak into the structure, which are four faults with four different causes.
See what this coversShower Installation
Installing showers, including the valve, the waste, the pan and the waterproofing behind the tile, which is what decides whether it leaks later.
See what this coversBathtub Repair
Repairing baths and their fittings, including waste and overflow assemblies, taps, and the leaks that show up in the ceiling below rather than the bathroom.
See what this coversBathtub Installation
Fitting baths, including the support underneath, the waste and overflow connection and the seal to the wall that stops water reaching the floor.
See what this coversShower Valve Repair
Repairing shower mixing valves that drip, stick, will not hold temperature or have scaled up internally, usually without disturbing any tiling.
See what this coversShower Leak Repair
Finding where a shower is leaking, since the pipework is innocent more often than not and the cause is grout, a pan or a waste seal.
See what this coversTub to Shower Conversion
Replacing a bath with a walk-in shower, which changes the waste position, the valve height and the waterproofing, not just the fixture.
See what this coversBathtub Drain Repair
Repairing bath waste assemblies, including plugs that will not seal, corroded waste bodies and the linkage that connects the overflow to the drain.
See what this covers
Does this sound familiar?
Problems this covers
- Water that swings between hot and cold when another fixture is used
- A shower that will not reach a comfortable temperature
- Weak or uneven spray from the showerhead
- A shower or tub that drains slowly or pools around your feet
- A stain appearing on the ceiling below a bathroom
- A tub that will not hold water, or a stopper that does not seat
Questions
Shower and Bathtub Services questions
Why does my shower go cold when someone runs a tap?
Because the valve cannot compensate for the pressure change. Older shower valves mix hot and cold at fixed proportions, so when a tap or a toilet elsewhere draws cold water, the balance shifts and the shower runs hot, then cold as it recovers. A pressure-balancing or thermostatic valve holds the temperature steady when supply pressure moves, which is why they are now the standard fitting and worth the upgrade in a house where it happens often.
My shower will not get hot enough. Is the water heater at fault?
Not necessarily. If the rest of the house has plenty of hot water, the problem is at the shower, and it is usually the mixing valve or a scald guard set too conservatively. Many valves have an adjustable limit stop, fitted for safety, that can be reset within a safe range. If hot water is short everywhere, then it is the heater, and the usual causes are sediment, a failed element or a thermostat.
Why is a shower drain slower than the other drains?
Hair bound together with soap residue, almost always, and usually within the first foot or two of the waste. It forms a mat that catches everything arriving after it. Clearing it is straightforward. Preventing it is simpler still: a strainer over the waste catches hair before it enters the pipe, and it is the single highest-return thing you can fit in a bathroom.
There is a stain on the ceiling under my bathroom. What causes that?
Water escaping the enclosure rather than the plumbing, more often than not. Failed grout or sealant at the base of the wall, a cracked shower pan, or a waste connection that has loosened will all let water past into the structure. It is worth investigating promptly, because by the time a ceiling stains, water has been getting in for a while and the damage is in the floor structure rather than on the surface.
Get it fixed
Shower and Bathtub Services, handled locally
Call with your ZIP code and what you are seeing. We route you to a licensed plumber in your area who does this work every week.
- Licensed and insured
- Answered 24/7
- Price before work