I got a droopy tub spout; can I bend it?

We're in the midst of our bathroom remodel, which entailed ripping everything out to the studs and joists and starting over. As part of that, we had a new shower value, spout, and head plumbed into the tub/shower combo. The plumbing is all copper, and the plumber did what looked like a good job. But tonight when I was installing the tile over the cementboard, I noticed something that's not right. The copper tub spout pipe slopes downward. I measured it, and it has a slope of about 1/8" in 3" of run. It will be pretty noticeable when I put the spout on, since there will be a gap of about 1/8" to 1/4" at the top of the spout between it and the wall, while the bottom of the spout will be closer the wall. I noticed when the plumber was through that he had secured the elbow of the spout pipe to the 2x4 in the wall with a u-shaped bracket and that it looked like he had bent it backwards some to get the elbow touching the 2x4. It didn't dawn on me that when he bent it back that it would also cause the slope downwards.

So, my immediate thought was to try to bend it upwards. But I'm afraid I'll break the joint inside the wall if I do. Just how forgiving is copper piping? Can I just try bending it up some? Where should I apply the pressure from? From the very tip of the pipe or closer to the wall?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

pipe

If he secured the elbow and it is not level, anything you do to try to straighten it WILL damage the pipe in the wall. Those pipes should not be flexible so they will kink or break rather than bend.

One suggestion might be to loosen the bracket and wedge a shim in there to keep it straight. I wouldn't go bending the pipe.

Once the spout is installed, caulk the gap all the way around and it won't be so noticeable.

Here's a pic showing the plumbing before I put up the cement board where you can see the tub spout pipe bent back slightly to attach to the 2x4.



And here's a close up pic of the pipe showing the slope.



Since I haven't tiled that bottom 6" yet, I thought I might could cut out a piece of the cementboard so that I could unattach the bracket holding the pipe down and then slide a shim under it and reattach it. Does that sound like it would work? I would need to have a plumber come out again afterwards and cut the end of the pipe off and redo it, because it would then be too long, but at least it would be level. Given the length of that downpipe from the valve (about 10") is that enough play for about 1/4" of shimming?

valve

I can't tell from the picture, but usually the only way the pipe could be crooked coming out, would be if the valve is also tipped in the wall. But, if it is not, then adjusting that pipe, might make it crooked.