replacing shower faucet

The 35-year-old faucet for my bathroom shower has a handle and a knob
-- one adjusts the temperature; the other adjusts the pressure -- which have become very hard to turn.

Since parts are no longer available for my faucet, I'd like to replace it with a brand-new faucet.

However, all of the faucets at Home Depot and Lowes connect to 1/2" water pipes. However, the water supplied to my shower is via a 3/4" pipe.

The Home Depot guy said I'd have to open up the wall and replace the 3/4" pipes with 1/2" pipes. I'd prefer not doing that because the shower has a fiberglass surround and the other side of the wall is not accessible (cabinets, granite counter-tops, etc).

Does anyone know of any name-brand (i.e., Moen, Delta, American Standard, etc) faucets that fit 3/4" pipes?

You will find it diffucult to replace the valve without having access inside the wall, perhaps from the back. Then, any valve can be adapted in.

How about a picture of what you have. There are very few models that you cannot get any parts for. 35 years is NOT ancient history, in the plumbing world.

The escutcheon plate says "Mixet".

There's a 3" hole in the shower surround. I can see the some of the inside-the-wall plumbing thru the hole. The 3/4" water-supply pipe sticks out about 3 inches into the shower.

Rather than searching for and bying all of the Mixet parts, I'd prefer to replace the "old" faucet with a "modern" faucet.

The existing valve may be helped by just taking the valve apart and lubing it with plumber's grease. But, if you want to replace it, then you'll need a bigger hole. You may not like the look, but there are remodel plates to fit over the large hole that needs to be made...then, the new plate fits on that to trim the new valve. The only other way to normally do this is to have access from behind the wall.

Many of the manufacturers sell valves with 3/4" supply lines, but once the hole is enlarged, it is fairly easy to adapt what is there to fit a 1/2" valve. Unless you have multiple showerheads, there isn't much benefit to a 3/4" valve which will cost more.

Mixet

I have never seen a 3/4" Mixet valve.