another plumbing question - sink tap not far enough out

[HemiDemiSemiquaver]

Just moved in, and the bathroom sink is a bit annoying - the tap on the sink isn't very long - i.e., it doesn't stick out very far into the sink. And because of the shape of the sink (flat back), it's hard to properly get your hands right underneath the stream, if it's on at a sort of normal low amount - and when you try, the water ends up splashing up and pooling around the base of the tap. Or you can turn the tap on higher power, and then it comes out more in the middle of the basin, but at that pressure it's more likely to splash everywhere.

So as I can't replace the tap itself yet, I was thinking maybe there was some sort of piece that I could put on the end that would just direct the spray outwards a bit. I don't really see anything obvious to screw it on to, though. The end of the tap has a little bit that looks slightly separate (a few mm thick), but I don't know if a plumber could actually unscrew it somehow (I can't). There's a flow regulator or something in that.

Does that sort of piece/device/thing exist? Any other ideas other than replacing it one day?

You can get a basin spanner for around £3 to undo the nuts to the taps and just buy new taps.

You can get faucet extenders - a little plastic thingy that fastens to the end of the spout. Google "plumbing faucet extender".

(faucet is the US word for tap)

Don't want to replace tap yet (it's a mixer tap, matches the other stuff I think, brand new, and might well void new build warranty if I start changing too much...) so just want something on the end of it. I'll have a look at faucet extenders, (maybe they're called tap extenders here?!) Not sure how they'd fasten to this one (or at least, unobtrusively) as I'd probably have to get whatever the little end piece is off before screwing anything else on.

Here's a picture of one, I'm sure they are available in England

Just found a close-up

If you know the make of tap, you may be able to get a champagne aerator to fit onto the end of the spout. The water will then splash less when there is increased flow.

Alternatively you can turn the flow down by turning the isolator on the pipe to the tap slightly using a screwdriver.

I'd just change the tap. It sounds like crap design.

oh I see what you mean about the tap extender. I am hoping for a slightly more elegant solution if possible...

yes crap design, by someone who chooses things to look good rather than work well, I suspect! I'd like to change the tap eventually but as it's all new build, I think I'm not supposed to change things as it might affect the warranty for the first year at least.

I think the tap is Bristan(?) and it's quite a nice looking one, just too short for the sink! An aerator might help, not sure if there's a place to screw it on as I can't tell whether the end bit (very thin) actually comes off - there's a sort of grey piece in there that I think is already a flow limiter, but one that splashes less with more flow sounds good.

I don't dare go near anything with a screwdriver... :)

It's a thing called a Tap Adapta. Lakeland used to sell them but I'm sure you can still get them. Both aerator/spray and swivel to redirect the spray.

Here see. This is on a Bristan tap.

oh yes ,that might work well, if I can get the little end bit off the tap so that I could screw it in. It looks like Lakeland still has them. Will see what I can do about getting the end of the tap off - there's not much to grip on to see if anything unscrews - it mostly looks smooth, apart from this 2mm size end piece.

I hadn't noticed it was a bathroom tap - those things are aimed at kitchen taps.
If you can find your tap on the Bristan website you may be able to order an aerator/anti splash assembly as a spare. Or something from this page?

Can you contact the after sales of the house builder? If it's brand new they may have fitted some sort of flow limiter for environmental reasons.

yes it's got that sort of thing in - but it seems to be already inbuilt, rather than as big as that screwed on the end. Definitely for environmental reasons - they're very keen on that. The kitchen tap is fine as it's shaped almost exactly like the one in the picture, and can move around. It's the bathroom tap where you'd want to wash your hands fully under the stream, but it's just too close to the back of the sink. Maybe I'll just get used to it, but it seems a strange design!