Toilet, faucet & shower installation

Fitting a fixture looks like the simplest job in plumbing. It is also the job where the difference between done and done properly is entirely invisible for about two years.

Toilets

A toilet is three things: a pan that has to sit flat, a seal that has to be right, and a supply that has to be isolatable.

The floor is never flat. A pan set on an uneven floor rocks, and a pan that rocks works its seal loose. The leak then goes down into the floor rather than out onto it, which is why the first sign is often a soft patch or a stain on a ceiling below.

The seal. Set once, on a clean flange, at the right height. A flange that sits too low needs an extender, not a second wax ring stacked on the first.

The supply. A new angle stop and a new flexible connector, because the ones behind a fifteen- year-old toilet are the age of the toilet. They are the cheapest part of the job and the part most likely to fail next.

We also check the flange itself. A cracked or corroded flange is common in older properties and it is far cheaper to deal with while the pan is off than after it has been set.

Faucets and mixers

Most of the work is under the sink, in the dark, on your back. That is where it gets rushed.

Replacing the angle stops at the same time is worth it almost every time. So is checking that the supply lines are not kinked on refit — the single most common cause of “my new faucet has no pressure”, along with an aerator that picked up debris when the water came back on.

Where a basin or countertop is being drilled for a new configuration, we will tell you honestly what the material will take. Some surfaces do not forgive a change of mind.

Showers

Valves. A thermostatic or pressure-balancing valve is what stops a shower running cold when a toilet flushes. Replacing one usually means access from behind or a purpose-made access panel, and we will show you the options before cutting anything.

Waste and trap. The part that leaks silently into the substrate and shows up in the room next door.

Sealing. Cut out, cleaned back to a sound surface, and renewed. Silicone over old silicone fails quickly and traps water behind it.

Head and arm. Straightforward, and the most common thing people want changed.

A shower head swap and the full plumbing package on a Miami Beach rebuild are both real work. This is genuinely the small end of what we do, and it gets the same procedure.

Supplying your own fixture

Plenty of people buy their own, and that is fine. Send us the model before the visit.

We will check the rough-in dimensions, the connection type and whether it suits the supply. The most common wasted visit in this trade is a fixture that does not fit the space it was bought for, and a two-minute check beforehand prevents it.

What we always do

• Isolate properly, rather than relying on a valve nobody has tested
• Protect the floor and the surfaces around the work
• Test under load before we leave, not just for drips
• Take the old fixture away, or leave it with you if you would rather
• Leave the area clean

All work is completed to the Florida Building Code, by a licensed Florida contractor, Lic. #CFC1433820.

Water pressure in Miami condos

Worth knowing before you choose a fixture, because it is the single most common disappointment after an installation.

High-rise units are fed from a building system, and the pressure at your unit is whatever the building delivers at your floor. A rain head that performs beautifully in a showroom can be underwhelming on the eighteenth floor of a building with modest pressure, and no amount of installation quality changes that.

It cuts both ways. Some buildings deliver high pressure, and a fixture not rated for it wears out fast or fails at the cartridge.

So before you buy: tell us the building and we will tell you what is realistic. Where pressure is genuinely low, the fix is usually fixture selection rather than plumbing — a head designed for lower flow feels better than an expensive one starved of it.

Aerators are the other half. In Miami-Dade’s hard water they scale, and a fixture that has “lost pressure” has often just lost its aerator to limescale.

What affects the cost

• How many fixtures, and whether they are in one visit.
• What is behind the existing one. Corroded valves, a damaged flange or a non-standard configuration all add work.
• Whether the new fixture matches the old footprint. A like-for-like swap is quick; a different configuration may mean moving services.
• Access. Under a vanity in a tight condo bathroom takes longer than an open pedestal basin.
• Making good where tile or countertop has to be cut or drilled.