Maybe. That reminds me, there are ball valves that have an extra long shaft (like 10cm). So I could box the thing nicely with wood frame & tile, caulk the box for easy access the next time the valve needs to be replaced, and have just the handle exposed (almost like it was before). Two problems though:

1. these valves with a longer shaft are 20× more expensive than regular ball valves.
2. i’m not sure it’s possible to seal the small hole around the shaft since the shaft must be able to move.

If those problems were solved, I could possibly even hand-make PVC handle.