Go to a real plumbing store and ask for 1/4 turn stops.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG


"Mike Hartigan" wrote in message
ews.com...
My house is 13 years old. I have had occasion to disconnect
various
faucets, toilets, dishwasher, etc. for upgrades, replacement, or
remodelling projects. Each fixture has a shutoff valve
connecting it
to a 1/2" copper pipe - all well and good. However, it seems
that
everytime I turn off one of these valves, it breaks/leaks, etc.
requiring me to shut off the main supply valve and replace the
smaller one at the fixture, completely negating the benefit of
having
these valves installed in the first place. Indeed, it turns out
to
be more work and expense than if these valves were not there at
all.
Each time, in mid-project, I trek over to my local HD and/or
Menards
and/or Ace Hardware and buy a new valve to replace the old one.
Each
time, I look for something that might be a better quality to
minimize
the chances of this happening the next time. It seems that they
only
carry one level of quality, however, so I fear that I will live
with
this situation forever. What gives? I recall cursing the
building
code in my previous home for not requiring these valves. Alas,
I'm
no better off with them. Indeed, this is worse! I'd be hard
pressed
to consider this to be a water quality issue (Suburban Chicago,
Lake
Michigan water - shouldn't be too bad)

Any suggestions on where to buy valves that will outlast the
fixture
that they are feeding?

-Mike