Buying guides
Which one, for the job you actually have
A hub compares everything in a family. A guide answers one question — a budget, a first faucet for someone who has never changed one, the three things that turn a bathroom that smells into one that does not — with a ranked shortlist and a reason for the order.
- Getting started
A first bathroom refresh, in the order that matters
Four changes for a first bathroom refresh, in order: stop the running toilet, replace the faucet, swap the shower head, change the seat. US parts, US sizes.
- Choosing by budget
Choosing a bathroom faucet, by what the money actually buys
Five bathroom faucets from $76 to $119 on Amazon.com, and what each step up buys: a lever, lower flow, a drain in the box, a wider hole pattern.
- Flow and pressure
A shower that suits weak pressure
On weak pressure a small face beats a big one, and a handheld beats a rain head. Three US shower heads for low pressure, with flow and state limits.
- Installation
Redoing a shower in a weekend, without opening the wall
Everything here threads onto the 1/2-inch shower arm you have: a rain head on an extension arm, a handheld, a metal head. What changes, and what cannot.
- Repairs on a budget
The bathroom fixes that cost under $20
A running toilet, a drain smell, a weak faucet, a stopper that won't stay up: four parts under $20 that fix what people usually answer with a plumber.
- Measuring first
A very small bathroom, measured before it is furnished
Depth decides a small bathroom more than width: a sink projecting 7.3 in, a 5.1 in deep mirror cabinet and a 7.9 in square tall cabinet, sold in the US.
- Water and limescale
A bathroom in hard water
What to buy when the water leaves scale: a softener sized to your hardness, shower nozzles you can rub clean, and a faucet filter for taste, not hardness.
- Drainage
Stopping a drain smell for good
A drain that smells with no leak has usually lost its trap seal. How to find which drain, and four US parts that fix the trap, the drain and the stopper.
- Toilets
Making an old toilet work again
A running tank, a weak flush and a sliding seat are three different parts, each under $35. Which to replace first, how to test, and the US parts that fit.
- Getting started
Fitting out a powder room
A hand sink, a faucet, a trap and a mirror in a few square feet: five US parts for a powder room, chosen for depth, a visible trap and a room used rarely.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.