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Does your tub faucet drip? Do you have an old-style, 2 or 3-handle shower valve? If so, your plumbing can be from as far back as the 1920’s. Fortunately, there’s a modern solution.Does your tub faucet drip? Do you have an old-style, 2 or 3-handle shower valve? If so, your plumbing can be from as far back as the 1920’s. Fortunately, there’s a modern solution.
Those handle valves have a certain old-school charm, but after decades of use and repair, sometimes they simply can’t be salvaged. The dripping will continue until you replace that valve with something more reliable. Unless you are willing to tear out your tile and start from scratch, that something is a “Smitty.”
A Smitty is a simple-yet-ingenious facia plate that allows us to cut a clean access hole within your existing tile; replace the handle valve with a new “Pressure Balanced” valve; then hide the hole with a beautiful chrome valve handle and cover plate. Big Blue Plumbing’s technicians are experts in this upgrade.
The results are not only effective, but truly gratifying: greater control over temperature and no more drips. Additionally, the Pressure Balanced valve responds to sudden drops in cold water pressure — think of a toilet being flushed while you’re showering — and the hot water pressure is quickly balanced to reduce the risk of scalding.
Costs for this upgrade vary depending upon accessibility and the type of pipes hidden behind the tile, but it is definitely a worthwhile upgrade and one that you’ll appreciate daily.
To say that we’re smitten with Smitty would be an understatement.