I need to temporarily remove a 24 inch vanity to access the wall behind it which appears to be the spot where a dead rat or other animal has chosen for it’s final resting place.

Removing the corpse, sanitizing the area, and repairing the wall might take several days. I don’t want to close the main water valve for that length of time so was hoping that the quarter turn angle stops would do their job, but not surprised to find that there is still a slight trickle of water from each of the two stops in the closed position.

So, I’m thinking of removing the supply lines and using 3/8 inch caps on the angle stops. Will the threads of a 3/8 inch compression cap be compatible with those on the angle stops?

Any other ideas on dealing with this situation would be more than welcome.

Turn off the main and replace the stops.

the threads will be the same but you may need a couple wraps of teflon tape to make a good seal.

Wraps of Teflon folded over the top of the outlet to act like a hose washer,or,a 00flat washer.(I think I recall the size correctly).

Will definitely replace the stops but only after the drywall repairs are completed.

Thanks for the tips. I've got a box of assorted faucet washers somewhere. Most likely have the double zero size.

I have more parts on hand than some small hardware stores but may take several days till I find what I'm looking for.

what is the piping that comes out of the wall? copper tubing? IPS nipples?

as a DIYer, I typically use end caps if the stops are leaky. If it's not leaky. I will leave them on while I remove the wall board, clean and sanitize. Then I change them into slip on sharkbite end caps after putting on the new wall board. If it's nipples I just use 1/2" plastic threaded caps that they use to cap irrigation risers.

When you put on the new wall, whether it is drywall or cement board/tiles, you will have to drill the holes for the supply lines and drain. With the old or new angle stops in the way you can't slide on the new board. Using end caps make it easy to slide on past them, or remove them to slide over just the piping, put them back on so you can continue to do the wall repair like patch, mud, tile, paint etc...once the repair is done put on new stops I prefer compression for copper there. The end caps then can be tossed back into the tool box for the next project.

If you replacing the stops anyway remove them now and shark bite cap the water lines till after sheetrock



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I have never used Shark-bite and this might be an opportunity to become familiar with that system. But, as the new angle stops will be installed using compression rings, I am concerned that the teeth of the Shark-bite caps might mar the copper to an extent that the compression rings could not be used without first cutting the stubs back to get rid of the Shark-bite teeth marks.

I may be wrong about this? I'll need to check first if the stubs are long enough for this eventuality.