shower faucet leaks when shower head is on

sorry im not a plumber so i may sound stupid but here goes.

i bought a house built in 1974 not sure how new the plumbing is

in both showers when the water is on and you pull the knob for the shower head to come on the bottom tub faucet leaks or basically flows at the same time the water is coming out of the shower head??

is there a simple way to fix that or is it going to be more involved?

is there a way to check the tub faucet to see if something in it is broken and if it is can it be fixed?

thanks in advance

Brandon

If the diverter button is part of the spout, then you will need to replace the spout. If the diverter lever is part of the shower body, then that lever or button can be replaced. Either case will be relatively easy and inexpensive.

thanks...and...

the thing you pull , which i guess is the diverter, is on the spout itself.

i assume any local hardware store could help me, or would I be better of going to a smaller plumbing type store?

spouts come in generally two types - push on and screw on. If there is a set screw on the bottom, it is probably a push on. Those rely on an o-ring to seal things and the set screw to keep it from turning. The screw on does just that. It is easiest to replace with the same type. If a screw on, the amount the threaded part is recessed is the crucial measurement, or the new one will not either catch the threads or will stick out too far and won't go to the wall.

ok there is a hoel right behind the spout head on the bottom

it looks like the letters WE are in the hole, they are connected, IE the last part of the W makes the back of the E

so how do i get it off??

there doesnt seem to be an easy way to remove it.
any help would be appreciated.

If there is no screw anywhere the whole spout will unscrew counter clock wize. It may not be easy and you may need channel locks to do it. Be forwarned that there is a small possiblity that the pipe coming out of the wall that the spout is attatched to could twist on you and cause a problem inside the wall that you may not be able to deal with. If it is caulked to the wall cut the caulk with a utility knife first.

See if there is a screw in there...it could be a flathead or a hexhead. If there is, loosen it, and the thing will probably pull off. Note, if it had caulk applied to seal it to the wall, then that alone could keep it from coming off or turning.

ok i can find no screw in there, ill have to go get a pair of channellocks tomorrow i dont have any yet.

thanks ill try that but im not going to force anything worst case i can affod a plumber for a couple of hours


thanks for the help ill post back if i have any more problems