How to Fix a Leaking Shower Head
Timing tells you most of what you need. A few drips as a head empties are nothing, while water still falling an hour after you shut the taps off means a seal inside the mixer has given way.
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That makes how to fix a leaking shower head a question of finding the failed seal, not of attacking the head itself. The head swap is work Queensland leaves open to anyone, while anything behind the wall tiles goes to a licensed plumber.
At the last census the suburb counted 2,506 flats against just 80 detached houses and 65 townhouses. An area level estimate puts roughly 7,027 residents on each square kilometre here in 2025, so the showers we attend across Bowen Hills are almost all apartment bathrooms hung off a single wall mixer.
Normal Drips Versus a Failing Seal
Water escaping the head straight after a shower is normal; a drip that persists once the water is off means a worn seal in the mixer. Telling the two apart is the whole first step.
The head and the arm hold a small amount of water every time you shower. Gravity drains that residual water away over the following minutes, and none of it needs a repair.
Check again an hour later instead. A shower head leaking when off is telling you something different. Water creeping out long after you dried off has passed a worn seal in the mixer, the unit behind the tiles that blends your hot and cold supplies.
Where a Dripping Shower Head Comes From
Three places account for nearly every shower drip:
The joint on the arm
Water seeping there while the shower runs means the connection has worked loose or its sealing face has given up.
The mixer
A drip with the taps closed means water is getting past the mixer's own seals, usually the cartridge.
The diverter and spout
On a bath and shower pair, water running out of the head while you fill the bath, or out of the spout mid shower, flags a tired diverter or a spout partly blocked.
Scale changes the pattern instead. Mineral crust can plug the spray holes and force water out through other gaps in the head, which reads as a random leak rather than a steady one.
Apartment buildings multiply the puzzle slightly. One mixer model often repeats on every floor of a tower fitted out in a single program, so a second drip in the same building is rarely a coincidence.
Still Dripping After a Repair Attempt
A worn valve seat or a damaged mixer body is usually behind a drip that defeats a new washer or cartridge, and a licensed plumber assesses both. The replacement part seldom failed.
A washer seals onto a machined seat, and a cartridge shuts off inside the mixer body. Once either face is scored or corroded, the fresh part cannot close.
The licensing side stays simple either way. Work on a mixer part is minor work under Queensland rules, so it goes to a QBCC licensee with no permit and no Form 4.
Can You Replace a Shower Head Yourself
Yes, in Queensland the QBCC classes a shower head replacement as unregulated work, open to anyone with the knowledge and skill for it.
No plumbing licence is involved. The QBCC and the local council want no approval beforehand, and nothing has to be reported once the swap is done. Whatever gets fitted still has to reach the minimum standard the plumbing law requires.
The line falls at the wall. A cartridge or valve in the mixer is licensed work, because the QBCC's unregulated list includes the head and stops short of the mixer. A washer in an ordinary tap also appears on that list; a mixer part does not.
The label to look for on a replacement is WELS, short for Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards, the national water rating scheme. A head sold in Australia, or brought in for sale, has to be WELS registered. The star rating and water efficiency details go wherever the product is listed or advertised, online included.
Rentals get one small allowance. On a Queensland tenancy, changing a shower head sits alongside tap washers and toilet cistern washers among the few jobs open to anyone.
Under Queensland tenancy law, the owner or manager hands the premises over in good repair and keeps them there for the whole tenancy. A tenant tells the property manager about damage or anything needing repair as soon as it appears.
When to Call a Plumber
Ring us while the drip runs with the taps closed, after a new part has failed to stop it, or when the join on the arm weeps mid shower. All three faults sit past the head, in the mixer or the connection.
Our shower repairs work covers mixers, cartridges and in wall faults, from tower bathrooms near Bowen Hills railway station to the few older houses up on the hill. The price turns on whether the fault sits in the head or the mixer, which part is needed and how easily we reach the mixer. We set a fixed figure after seeing the job.
Dripping Shower Questions From Bowen Hills
Call (07) 3523 7172Who can replace a shower cartridge in Queensland?
A licensed plumber, always. A cartridge swap counts as minor work in Queensland: it needs a QBCC licensee, not a permit, and no Form 4 gets filed. The QBCC leaves the mixer off its unregulated list, so the job behind the tiles of a Bowen Hills bathroom is never a DIY one.
Why does my shower still drip after a new cartridge?
The new part is fine; the surface it seals against is not. A washer seats on the valve seat, a cartridge inside the mixer body, and a scored or corroded face leaves nothing to close on. Our plumbers assess the mixer and quote the repair for your Bowen Hills bathroom.
Why does water leak where my shower head joins the arm?
Water appearing only during use points to a loose joint or a tired seal where the head screws on. Swapping the head is unregulated work in Queensland, so it is open to anyone, provided the finished job meets the minimum standards.
What should I look for on a replacement shower head?
The WELS label. WELS stands for Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards, the national water rating scheme. A head sold in Australia, or brought in for sale, has to carry WELS registration, and the star rating and water efficiency details go wherever the product is listed or advertised, online included.
Ring Us About the Dripping ShowerWe'll call you back.
Ring (07) 3523 7172 and tell us what's wrong. You get $0 call-out fees, a fixed quote before any work starts and same-day where we can, 7 days a week.
To claim your $0 call-out fee, call (07) 3523 7172 today.