temporary shower fix?

[noodle-inn]

i don't think there is a temporary fix for this.
i was upstairs cleaning a room and a guest came up and found me, handed me the shower knob that came off. and he waited for me to fix his shower. i couldn't. the knob fits over a thing that sticks out of the wall in the tub. the inside of the knob is in pieces.
waaaahhhh!

all i could do was offer him the use of another shower. he was NOT pleased. but i'm in over my head on this one.
any brilliant ideas on this? i could not get away from here today ..... can i put a bunch of duct tape around the thing that turns the water on and push the knob over the duct tape 'mound' until i can get to a hardware store and buy a new shower knob? of course, this is one of the most popular rooms i have. darn these old plumbing fixtures.
i am soooo tired.

 

[inncogneeto]

Do you have any identical knobs in another shower that isn't being used? Can you cannibalize temporarily?

 

[noodle-inn]

Do you have any identical knobs in another shower that isn't being used? Can you cannibalize temporarily?.

that is a great idea - but no, they are all different. got the closest looking one off and brought it into the bath but it attaches differently. oh well. i took pictures of the inside of the knob and the shower to take to the store along with the broken knob.

 

[IronGate]

Do you have any identical knobs in another shower that isn't being used? Can you cannibalize temporarily?.

that is a great idea - but no, they are all different. got the closest looking one off and brought it into the bath but it attaches differently. oh well. i took pictures of the inside of the knob and the shower to take to the store along with the broken knob.
.

that is a great idea - but no, they are all different. got the closest looking one off and brought it into the bath but it attaches differently. oh well. i took pictures of the inside of the knob and the shower to take to the store along with the broken knob.

It's not going to help now, but when you get to the store, buy two. If anything goes wrong again, you've got a spare. (Thus assuring it will never go bad again.)

 

[swirt]

Vise grips. Lock it on to the little piece that protrudes and leave it there until you can get a replacement handle. Be careful not to tighten it too tight or it will deform the little piece and the new knob might not fit.
Your idea of the duct tape might work (electical tape would be better) but in my experince once the plastic in the knob gets that brittle, it will just crack more/again if you try to force it. A similar temp fix that might work better is to gob some hot melt glue in the knob, then push it on to the protruding piece and give it a few minutes to cool. Another alternative would be if you have any master-mend or similar two color putty that you mix together and it hardens up.
The plastic in those knobs do get brittle over time and breaks. If you are lucky enough to have similar knobs in all the showers, get a few extra to have on hand. They are not expensive. Running through my brain there are only few different styles (Moen, and Delta are the two biggies) many of the others have copied the style used by those so at most even if all the faucets in your bathrooms were different you could get by with just a few different models.

 

[Morticia]

Vise grips. Lock it on to the little piece that protrudes and leave it there until you can get a replacement handle. Be careful not to tighten it too tight or it will deform the little piece and the new knob might not fit.
Your idea of the duct tape might work (electical tape would be better) but in my experince once the plastic in the knob gets that brittle, it will just crack more/again if you try to force it. A similar temp fix that might work better is to gob some hot melt glue in the knob, then push it on to the protruding piece and give it a few minutes to cool. Another alternative would be if you have any master-mend or similar two color putty that you mix together and it hardens up.
The plastic in those knobs do get brittle over time and breaks. If you are lucky enough to have similar knobs in all the showers, get a few extra to have on hand. They are not expensive. Running through my brain there are only few different styles (Moen, and Delta are the two biggies) many of the others have copied the style used by those so at most even if all the faucets in your bathrooms were different you could get by with just a few different models..

That was my solution...vise grips. We have a different problem...the little plastic H and C caps break off rather regularly. Hubs ended up buying them in bulk. It was to the point he was replacing them in one bathroom monthly. Some have never broken off, others like clockwork.

 

[gillumhouse]

Read your post and do an edit. Last paragraph.

 

[Samster]

Vise grips. Lock it on to the little piece that protrudes and leave it there until you can get a replacement handle. Be careful not to tighten it too tight or it will deform the little piece and the new knob might not fit.
Your idea of the duct tape might work (electical tape would be better) but in my experince once the plastic in the knob gets that brittle, it will just crack more/again if you try to force it. A similar temp fix that might work better is to gob some hot melt glue in the knob, then push it on to the protruding piece and give it a few minutes to cool. Another alternative would be if you have any master-mend or similar two color putty that you mix together and it hardens up.
The plastic in those knobs do get brittle over time and breaks. If you are lucky enough to have similar knobs in all the showers, get a few extra to have on hand. They are not expensive. Running through my brain there are only few different styles (Moen, and Delta are the two biggies) many of the others have copied the style used by those so at most even if all the faucets in your bathrooms were different you could get by with just a few different models..

That was my solution...vise grips. We have a different problem...the little plastic H and C caps break off rather regularly. Hubs ended up buying them in bulk. It was to the point he was replacing them in one bathroom monthly. Some have never broken off, others like clockwork.
.

What are the brands of the ones that break off? I want to avoid those!
We have had no problem with contacting Moen, Delta, and even American Standard online about replacement parts under their lifetime warranties at no charge at all, including shipping for this house & other houses. We had to do this with a brass tub faucet we put in here in order to replace the shower diverter mechanism after a guest kept forcing it, thinking that it was the lever for the tub drain. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?? (It is the simplest tub drain in the book...you just screw it to close.) It was here in less than a week...they sent the entire faucet so now we have a backup for that.
Is it possible to try that route? Or, are your fixtures just waaaaaaaaaaaaay too ancient?

 

[Samster]

Read your post and do an edit. Last paragraph..

oopsey...replying to the wrong person! Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[Morticia]

What's the brand name? Or, can you post a picture? We have SMALL hardware stores here that MAY have something.

 

[seashanty]

*

 

[noodle-inn]

A small hardware store! - on the phone -- someone in one thinks he has something i can use so fingers crossed.
I don't think this was giving any indication there was a problem. It just broke off with use. I notice a slow drip in one bathroom. Yup, It's endless. I try to remember to turn on all the lights to see if any bulbs have gone out.

 

[Samster]

*.

Wow, this must be the day for innkeepers and their shower heads. And then there's Bree and her recurring issues.
Yeah, if you can post a picture there might be some of us that have some old parts hanging around. You know our garage is like a miniature home improvement store!
This brings up a point...do all y'all check your shower heads when you do a flip? I just thought of this as I often don't turn on the shower in the regular tub/shower combos, just use the tub faucet and my squeegy and clean rags for the shower walls. I will have to remember to check them every time! Something for the endless list.........

 

[Samster]

A small hardware store! - on the phone -- someone in one thinks he has something i can use so fingers crossed.
I don't think this was giving any indication there was a problem. It just broke off with use. I notice a slow drip in one bathroom. Yup, It's endless. I try to remember to turn on all the lights to see if any bulbs have gone out..

Yeah, I'm on to the lights but in those 3 rooms unless the shower was dripping... I wasn't checking them. I will now!

 

[Morticia]

You can also try asking if they have a 'universal' knob. Hubs says those generally come with adapters to fit a lot of different setups. And the folks at HD and Lowe's should have known that and offered that to you as an option.

 

[Morticia]

SO? What happened? Is it fixed? Hubs wants to know...

 

[YellowSocks]

Yes, I want to know, too.
And I'm also curious how the shower curtain got hung...
=)
Kk.

 

[seashanty]

a MAN went back to the same home depot i went to (for me) and got the correct knob. i'd grumble, but it's fixed! no offense to the kids working in the hardware section but they didn't know anything about what they had or what i needed! just in time, too.
i used twine and alternated with old hooks i found that had shells and things fastened to them .... gave the glue gun a workout to put them together.

 

[Morticia]

a MAN went back to the same home depot i went to (for me) and got the correct knob. i'd grumble, but it's fixed! no offense to the kids working in the hardware section but they didn't know anything about what they had or what i needed! just in time, too.
i used twine and alternated with old hooks i found that had shells and things fastened to them .... gave the glue gun a workout to put them together..

a MAN went back to the same home depot i went to (for me) and got the correct knob. i'd grumble, but it's fixed! no offense to the kids working in the hardware section but they didn't know anything about what they had or what i needed! just in time, too.
i used twine and alternated with old hooks i found that had shells and things fastened to them .... gave the glue gun a workout to put them together.

OK, most of us will realize you answered 2 questions, but for those who don't...I'm impressed you reassembled the shower knob with hooks and twine and shells. You go, MacGyver!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

USER ID swaparoni going on. Might need to filter one out.