How to put a new shower head on old plumbing
Older homes often have outdated pipe connections that do not line up with modern replacement shower heads. When unscrewing the original fixture, the fitting looks entirely different from current standards, preventing a simple direct swap. This leaves people with little plumbing experience stuck trying to figure out what parts to order to finish the DIY job.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to put a new shower head on old plumbing
- 1Unscrewing and replacing the entire shower arm from inside the wall, rather than just swapping the headDid this help you?
- 2Using teflon tape, putty, and an adjustable wrench to install a modern armDid this help you?
- 3Adjusting the existing plumbing rough-in to match the new tub's specifications.Did this help you?
- 4Attempting to buy the exact same make and model as the old tub.Did this help you?
- 5Accounting for a quarter-inch to half-inch manufacturer tolerance during the install.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Bought a replacement and things don’t quite line up but understand it could just be a variance in style and manufacturer.”source ↗
“The shower in my 60’s home has a gross head and I want to replace it. I went to unscrew the head from the spout and this is what it looks like (guessing this isn’t a modern practice). What can I order or do to put a newer shower head on this?”source ↗
“Is this something I could DIY with little plumbing experience?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 16How to connect a sink drain to existing glued PVC pipes
- 2Can you wrench a shower arm past a dry fit position to align it?
- 34How to fix a stripped or jammed shower handle
- 2Converting a bathtub to a shower with a 1 1/4 inch drain