Threading in shower arm fittings

[doug pp]

I'm probably going to mess some terminology up here...

But I'm trying to finish up a small remodel project.

For the shower head piping: i have the copper in the the wall up to a threaded 90. I had to put an extension on that.

The walls are closed up and tiled.

When threading in the polished chrome arm that the shower head screws into, when i get it tight its pointing almost 90 degrees to the right instead of down. (Its straight with a 45 bend down)

Anyone know how i can get it in tight and have it point down to the rub instead of at the wall?

Oh ya, anyone have a good suggestion for where to find a square escutcheon for the shower? Everything is Kohler. My tile guy didn't check to see how small the escutcheon was....

 

[Terry]

I find it easier to spin in the arm by either inserting something like a screwdriver in the end of the arm for leverage, or thread on the shower head and that gives you more leverage too.
I do three wraps of tape on those where it goes in the wall. You don't need to be a gorilla when tightening. Sometimes you need to know when to stop.
Some heads come with a rubber washer, if it does, then I don't tape the end that receives the shower head.

Also, I put the longer part of the arm in the wall, the short side gets the shower head.

Looks to me that you have the shower arm in the wrong way.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jeff H Young]

I use the handle of my channel lock plier to tighten shower arm. A tile guy would know that tile cut out is too big no excuse. Just tell him fix it

 

[doug pp]

Thanks for the quick reply and help!

The tile is what it is a this point unfortunatley. I won't even bother with the spacing, grout joints or anything. I probably could of done it myself and have it look just as crappy...

So is there any conearn of overt tightening it and splitting it?

I think it just needs a 1/4 turn or so that i can't do by hand?

 

[LLigetfa]

If you just need a 1/4 turn to get it pointing down, try using a Jorgensen clamp to get extra leverage with no risk or marring the finish.

A google image search for "square shower arm escutcheon" should turn up a lot of hits.

 

[doug pp]

Thanks! Gonna give it a try today.

 

[Marlinman]

Kingston Brass has a 3" square shower arm flange.

https://www.kingstonbrass.com/product/kingston-brass-flsquare8/

 

[doug pp]

Kingston Brass has a 3" square shower arm flange.

https://www.kingstonbrass.com/product/kingston-brass-flsquare8/

Nice! That might just work!!

Thank you!

 

[doug pp]

Worked perfect! Thank you