On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 11:47:28 AM UTC-4, HerHusband wrote:
Sorry to hear that. It's the bad scenario we all agreed can easily
happen when you start trying to fix old plumbing that you have no
or limited access to.

All I wanted to do was replace the tub spout...

I've had a lot of experience with old plumbing at my in-laws house
(galvanized pipe, even worse). I've learned nothing is easy when it comes
to old plumbing.

Given that this is a fixer upper in need of a lot of repairs, I would not
hesitate to use sharkbite if it makes things easier.

Access is going to be the biggest problem.

I won't be able to get back to mom's house for a few days.

Anthony

I just went through a similar evaluation with my shower. It has 25 year
old Hans Grohe faucets. The shower volume had gone down gradually,
getting really noticeable the last year or so. I had cleaned the existing
shower head, no change. Recently I bought a new dual head shower
contraption, where you can use one or the other or both heads at the
same time. No change. I then realized that the water flow out of the
pipe was low. So, what to do? I considered taking the valves apart,
but these fancy Grohe handles do not use screws, they just press fit
on. I figured after all those years, they were not likely to come off
easily, if at all, and there is no way to even pull on them, ie you
can't get a puller type thing on them, etc. And the last thing I needed
was to have to put in new ones, because these still look and work fine,
other than the volume issue.

So, I decided to try blowing it out with the air compressor. I rigged
up a fitting, blew air through the shower pipe and out the tub and
sink fixtures. And voila, I'd say the volume easily doubled. And the
new shower heads now work fine, the flow can support both of them.
I got lucky.

On Thu, 15 Jun 2017 15:10:21 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband
wrote:

Well, I finally got back over to mom's house but things didn't quite go
as planned...

I received the adapter fitting you gave me the link to:

https://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Meta...male/dp/B0070T
VKBM

I threaded it on the existing stub out, but it still stuck out about a
1/4" too far from the wall. No worries, I bought a trim ring too, so I
stuck that to the shower wall with some plumbers putty and starting
screwing on the tub spout (hand pressure only). It was all going so well
until I was about 1/8" from seating the spout. That's when the pipe
inside the wall broke loose! Dang.

So, I removed the tub spout and fitting. Couldn't get the stub to come
out through the hole in the shower surround, so I let it drop inside the
wall. I looked inside with a flashlight and could see the elbow that was
soldered to the pipe slipped off the end of the pipe. Bad solder joint.
Grr...

I did some measuring to see what was on the back side of the wall, then
used a long screwdriver to make an exploratory hole into the adjacent
room. Naturally, it was right behind the toilet (not the shower as I
originally thought).

I removed the toilet tank, and cut a small 6"x8" access hole so I could
get inside the wall.

Whoever the "professional plumber" was who installed this did a terrible
job. Not only was the solder joint bad, but they did not anchor the drop
ear elbow. They had simply hammered one of the ears into the side of a
stud.

Fixing this will be tricky since the pipe runs right alongside a stud.
There's certainly no room to get in there with a torch next to the stud
and plastic tub surround, even with a heat shield.

I'm not crazy about sharkbite fittings, but it seems like the most
workable solution in this situation. Unfortunately, I will need to cut
the pipe back to get clean pipe. I'm not sure how I'm going to get in
there to cut the pipe since it's right next to the stud.

Assuming I can get the pipe fixed, I need to figure out how to secure the
new drop ear elbow from the back side.

Sheesh, this was suppose to be such a simple repair. I'm about ready to
say screw it and let the next homeowner deal with it, but it has become
something of a challenge now. I'm determined to fix it!

Yeah, the next homeowner will probably come in and gut everything,
ripping out my proud new work, but I'll have peace of mind.

Anthony

When you are finished patching the pipes together, close the new
access hole, open another one a few inches higher, and pour the space
between the studs full of quick drying concrete. That will handle
anchoring the drop ear elbow - - - -