In ,
TimR typed:
On Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 5:30:30 PM UTC-5, TomR wrote:
After you open up the wall behind the shower, buy shutoff valves (I
would suggest ball valves with a waste port such as:
http://www.dongyavalve.com/products/...0valve122.html ). That
way, you can install them first and then continue the job later if
needed without having to turn off water in the whole house.

Good idea but I don't think there's room. There's a sink and vanity
on the back side of the shower and I have to work above it. I may be
able to screw a plug into the supply depending on whether it's
threaded or soldered.

Interesting. I guess you'll just have to see what you have after you open
up the wall above the vanity and behind the large vanity mirror. Another
option may be to also go ahead and remove the vanity/sink combo below to
access that part of the wall. That is often fairly easy to do, and I assume
that would give you access to the tub drain fittngs. If you were able to do
that, you may also be able to create an access panel behind the vanity/sink
combo for future use.

If you do open the wall up from the back (behind the large vanity mirror),
and you find that the shower faucet handle mechanism is down too low to work
on it, then you may have 2 options.

One option would be to remove the vanity/sink combo to gain more access from
that side.

But, another option may be to change the plan a little and replace the
fixture from the front through the tile shower wall. I know you wanted to
avoid that, if possible, but it may be an option to consider. You could
take out enough whole tiles to access the shower faucet that you have now,
and replace them afterward with the extras that you said you have. But, you
would have to figure out how to create the two holes for the 2-handle
replacement faucet (or maybe save the old tiles for that part).

Or, as the person did in this video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DwVRaLabSg ), maybe you could do it all
from the front and replace the existing 2-handle faucet with a single handle
faucet.

And, while you have the water off at the street, install a new,
non-leaking, ball valve with a waste port inside where the main
water line comes in. That will eliminate the need to shut off water
at the street for any repairs or leaks inside your home.

Yeah, I had that idea too, haven't found the main water line though.
Finished basement, and it's boxed in somewhere.

Do you have access to the hot water tank? Sometimes, the incoming cold
water supply is a 3/4 line that goes directly to the hot water tank first,
and then splits off to 1/2 inch for cold water for the house right before
the hot water tank, and hot water for the house coming out of the hot water
tank. This isn't common unless the hot water tank happens to be near where
the cold water line comes into the house. But, if you have that setup, you
may be able to put a whole house shutoff valve in the 3/4-inch line going to
the hot water tank (before where the cold water splits off away from the hot
water tank). Just a thought.