Replace bath taps with a shower mixer - is this an easy DIY?

[Xiaoxiong]

We have a guest loo "in need of updating" that only has an old school bathtub, with no shower head. In the fullness of time we will replace the entire bathroom, but for now I just wanted to replace the bath taps with one that has a shower hose and head as well.

I've watched a few videos online and it doesn't look TOO too difficult... has anyone done this themselves and later wished they hadn't??

It should be doable as DIY depending on the following:

• you need to undo nuts under the bath to remove the existing taps; are these covered in rust or timescale that would make it difficult? Are they reachable?

• is the spacing of the inputs on the new tap/shower fitting the same as the spacing of the existing taps?

• Will you have sufficient water pressure for the shower? Generally this would mean if you have a hot tank it is at least one floor above the bathroom. If you have a modern on demand boiler without hot tank, it should be fine

• is the water pressure for cold and hot similar? Either both from tanks, or both mains pressure (ie cold is from the rising main and hot is from an on-demand boiler). If not, the mixer won't work properly and your shower will be either cold or boiling

Also it will be easier if there is an isolation valve for each of the taps so you can cut off the water to the bath without having to cut off the water to the whole house.

Thank you for this brilliant advice - the kinds of questions I didn't even know I needed to ask!! I'll get out the tape measure and start poking around!

I suspect the existing taps will be pretty gnarly underneath with rust and limescale but I'll need to brave my fear of spiders and get the panel off the side of the bath first to check.