How to: Install a Basin Tap

Taps come in many shapes, styles and sizes, yet the basin mixer tap has vastly became the most popular in recent years, it's stylish design has made it widely demanded for in the bathroom world, with an endless amount of design to suit any style of suite, they all vary in design yet they can all be installed in a similar way.

Here at ThinkTaps we highly recommend hiring a professional, trained plumber to do the installation for you, but if you fancy a spot of DIY we'd be more than happy to dispel our knowledge on how the installation of a basin mixer tap is completed both swiftly and correctly.

The first thing you should do is make sure you TURN THE WATER OFF, this can be done by turning off the stopcock or you may be lucky enough to have isolation valves, hopefully within arms reach of the tap. REMEMBER to drain your system of water after turning off the water supply, the last thing you want is a flooded bathroom when you're trying to complete what seems like a simple, easy task.

You'll have to connect two flexible pipes to the bottom of your basin mixer, these two pipes contain your hot and cold water, we recommend hand tightening these pipes so you ensure that no harm is done to the internal thread. If you're installing a new basin waste, now would be the best time to do so.

When installing into a one-hole basin use a threaded rod and nut, place a rubber O-ring on top of your basin underneath the mixer tap and place the moon shaped washer & brass gasket underneath the basin. When these simple steps are complete, you're ready to attach the basin mixer tap to your basin. Once the tap is in the hole, along with a flat washer or mounting plate placed over the threaded bars, you're able to slide the steel washer into place.

With all of the key parts of your basin mixer now in place, you can now tighten the nuts. This is the tricky part, the parts that you're going to need to tighten are in an awkward place. Just try to remember that with perseverance you'll succeed. A way to do this efficiently is to use a box spanner, it's a common plumbers tool designed for tasks like this, making the job much easier. 


Thank you for reading this article and paying a visit to the ThinkTaps site, we wish you the best of luck in any DIY you're faced with. We believe in making DIY easy and taking the mystery out of the perceived difficult tasks, check back regularly for new and informative articles!