Wall mounted or deck mounted taps?

6 years ago

Whilst planning our family bathroom, I am coming across a lot of convincing advice that taps should be wall mounted if it can be helped. On my recent visit to my local Topps Tiles, the manager advised complete against it and said it was worse than deck mounted taps! I thought the whole idea was for my worktop/basin area to be limescale free and not the opposite. Has anyone got wall mounted taps in the bathroom and regretted it?

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Juliet Docherty

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I have sink mounted, but here's my best piece of advice. Get a tap that doesn't have a lip or ring at the base. Instead get one that goes straight down, that way you won't have a continuous wet area on the metal. An other idea is to have one that turns on and off at the spout end (my ikea kitchen tap in like this). This also means that wet hands turn the tap on and off away from the base bit of the tap. Hope this makes sense.

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Comments (22)

PRO
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
It's not really the limescale that causes the biggest problem. I get called out to a lot of disfunctional taps and a lot of showers too. If you can't access them because all the pipes are buried, you can't fix them.

I'm not saying don't wall mount them..........just beware that the consideration with most things in a bathroom should be, what do I do if I have a leak!
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sobi
Original Author
6 years ago
Would access panels solve that? I recently asked a fitter and he seemed to imply that it was just a case of making sure it was accessible behind a tile. I'll be sure to keep the leak issue in mind while doing this bathroom.
PRO
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
You can't just put a tile up over a pipe. You have to have a box of some description around it, or, at the very least plasterboard, plaster and then tile.

You do get access panels under showers and baths.

A lot of the pipework on a sink would probably be accessible from underneath the vanity unity, but you would still have some pipework in the wall, directly behind the tap.

Don't get me wrong...............we have wall mounted bath taps and they're great, they've never caused a problem. I just like people to have all the info.
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sobi thanked User
PRO
Opun
6 years ago
Hello Sobi,

It all comes down to the quality and brand of the tap you are choosing. Nowadays most of the brands have a high-quality technology/ceramic cartridges which rarely malfunction. When it comes to limescale we agree that wall-mounted taps are better option as there is nothing on the basin around what the water would set and leave marks. We have specified wall-mounted taps for many of our projects and have not had any problems. It is important to mention that when the pipework/job is well-done at first place there should not be any problems at all in a long-term.

Yours Opun.
PRO
Opun
6 years ago
If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out. Also if you want to put your ideas into a design use our free tool: OpunPlanner

Alternatively, if you are looking for someone to install your bathroom or even help you with your design, we cover Berkshire :-). More than happy to send one of our expert designers out and create you a free no obligation quotation with full detail and 3D rendering.

Let us know how this sounds to you Sobi.

Have a lovely evening.

Opun - your home improvement experts
sobi
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you Opun for some great advise! It gives me faith in the wall mounted taps. Do you have any brands you especially recommend?
Have a lovely evening yourself !
Kim Williams
6 years ago
We have wall mounted taps in our master bathroom, they look great and problem free. Totally agree with ensuring the plumbing is of high standard.
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PRO
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Although I felt the need to point out the problem, not especially with Taps but buried pipework in general, we have do have wall mounted bath taps as I previously mentioned. They are Grohe, so I know they're great.

I have to disagree however ( God here I go again.....but I'm the guy that gets called out to fix these things ), that Ceramic discs rarely malfunction. Ceramic discs wear out just like old fashioned washers used to. If they didn't, you would be able to buy so many different replacements. I already had to change my daughters bathroom sink taps and her bathroom was only put in 4 years ago .No, the taps weren't cheap!

One set of our own Utility taps were so crap and had to be fixed so many times that we gave up and bought different ones.............the old ones were cheap.................the new ones are great..

Don't get me wrong, they're not that difficult to change, just a bit fiddly. You do however, have to identify the right sized cartridge and that's sometimes a little challenging, but not impossible.

So do buy good taps, it makes all the difference......................
PRO
Rubberduck Bathrooms Ltd
6 years ago
If you are going for a wall mounted tap, make sure you dont cheap out and get something that you cant get parts for in the future. Like any valve or tap the cartage inside can ware and fail (drip etc) and these are not covered in guarantees.

if a cheaper tap that have no parts / spares available fails, you have potentially a big job on your hands to replace. Deck mounted taps are easy to change as long as you can get access the to bolts under the tap..... ie very hard on a tap on a bath when the tap is in the middle of the bath and the bath is wall to wall..
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sobi
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you Rubberduck Bathrooms, I’ll make a mental note of the bathtub tap placement issue.. it’s some great advice. Cheers!
Leila Bybordi
6 years ago
Hi- I am at this crossroad also....choosing between sink mounted or wall mounted taps. They are Grohe Essence range. I prefer the wall mounted ones but worried about how one would repair any issues if hidden behind wall??? any advice much appreciated.
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PRO
User
6 years ago
If you are having wall mounted taps, then the wall has to be chased out to allow for the pipework, so, as you point out nothing will be on view or accessible. Thus regardless of whether or not you then tile, and you had a problem with the plumbing ( maybe not the tap itself ), you would have to dig everything back out.

We had Grohe Wall mounted taps and have just changed them for Burlington as we are upgrading the bathroom. We never had a problem. It's a risk you take.
Anthony (Beano)
6 years ago
Tbh I have wall mounted controls in my wetroom, no issues at all and have a limited amount of access behind the plate to the valve, if you have an issue with pipe work then it’s a rip out job :-( my advice, buy as expensive as you can and use a good plumber and test well before you cover all your pipe work and you should be grand!
Tani H-S
6 years ago
Can I just add that some of the wall mounted taps now come set onto a large metal plate - which I presume might be an access panel? Worth checking as not 100% sure.

Otherwise there are lots of You Tube videos showing you how to create access panels for these.

I didn't go for that as our taps will be on a plasterboard wall that if we had to, we could cut a hole out from behind and access it without having to damage any tiles. Bit of a patch up plaster work after, haha.
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Leila Bybordi
6 years ago
Thank you all - the wall mounted tap I was interested in doesn't come with matching colour pop up waste so that makes it a no go - However we are looking at putting in concealed rain shower and hand shower stick - does the same apply to these? ie if any problems then its a rip out job? it is new build and using Grohe system and hopefully good plumber!
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Tani H-S
6 years ago
we have a rain shower in our last house and they should be able to access the head and top of the pipes from the above room floor or loft space (if it's your top room).

We also had the pipes down the wall on a stud wall so again, a lot easier to access from the rear if anything went wrong!)

I would avoid anything where you can't ever get to it without destroying all the tiling
PRO
User
6 years ago
It is not really about limescale. Unfortunately that cannot be avoided either way. The way we see it, it depends on style. If you have a contemporary bathroom, then go with the wall mounted one. If it is more traditional, we recommend deck mounted. But there is one problem with wall mounted taps, they are more difficult to repair if they are leaking.
HU-500880085
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Hi,

Wondering if anyone can help me?

I had a wall mounted basin replaced this week. The plumber cut a hole in the wall as he said we need to be able to access to the pipework in case of problems and prevent flooding the house. . He suggested I could get a carpenter to make a set of doors but looking online I cannot see anything like this and I really don't know what to do. .

Any ideas how I can rectify this?

Many thanks in advance,

Photo attached.
0
Daisy England
4 years ago
Does he mean put the basin into a vanity unit?
0
HU-500880085
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
No, we have the piece of wall he cut (it's a square with a circular hole in the middle for the waste trap). He suggested we cut that in half and put hinges on. so we can open the 2 sides (around the waste trap) and expose the pipes if we need to.

From photos I've seen online the wall mounted basins don't appear to have access to the pipework. I did consider buying a vanity unit to conceal the hole but I don't know if one will fit.
0
User
4 years ago
Rather than hijack a 2 year old thread, why not start your own?
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Wall mounted or deck mounted taps?

Juliet Docherty

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