Hi. We're doing a facelift in the bathrooms of our 50 yr old contemporary ranch. We'd like to replace the fixture on the tub, but don't have the money to pull out the wall and completely replace the mechanism. It is a three handle unit, and I'm not sure who manufactured it. Is it possible to simply replace the cheesy plastic knobs but leave the guts in place? We're looking on the web to find the replacement, what should we be looking for?

Thanks for the help!

Hi. We're doing a facelift in the bathrooms of our 50 yr old contemporary ranch. We'd like to replace the fixture on the tub, but don't have the money to pull out the wall and completely replace the mechanism. It is a three handle unit, and I'm not sure who manufactured it. Is it possible to simply replace the cheesy plastic knobs but leave the guts in place? We're looking on the web to find the replacement, what should we be looking for?

Thanks for the help!
You can hopefully buy new Stems at the hardware store. And then re-do the valve seats with a tool. I'm sure knobs are available as well. You'll have to bring in the stem for them to math it. There are usually lots of them on display.

Not so sure you'll find stems for a 50 year faucet but you certainly can find replacement knobs. OEM knobs can run $15-20 each but generic are much cheaper. Go to Home Depot or the like.