If you experience waking up in the middle of the night to the irritating noise of drip, drip, drip from a leaky faucet, it’s probably high time you learn how to fix a leaky faucet. Doing so will save you the trouble from calling up a plumber, and will save you from getting high plumbing bills.
You can fix a leaky faucet by yourself, without the need of a plumber. And to show you exactly how to do that, this article will enumerate simple to follow and easy to understand steps.
Here are just some of the basic materials and tools you will need:
- Screwdriver – Washers
Before You Start
1. Look under your sink and search for a shutoff valve. Turn its handles counter-clockwise (off) to switch off the water supply. Remember the saying “righty-tighty, lefty-loosey”. This will guide you in switching your water supply on and off.
2. Keep an assortment of replacement parts at hand. This includes washers, O-rings, and etc.
3. Make sure to plug down the drain (maybe with rags). This is to avoid having small parts like screws and washers go down the drain.
4. As you work, keep in mind the exact order of the parts from the moment it was taken apart and line them up. This will serve as a guide when it’s time to reassemble it, so you wouldn’t have a hard time tracing what goes in first.
Begin Working!
1. The first thing you should do is remove the faucet handles. For this, you can use your screwdriver to remove the screws that are holding them together. Once the screws are removed, you can easily remove the handles using a flathead screwdriver, or you may have to pry it open.
2. Once the faucet handles are removed, detach the old washer located behind the handle. Don’t worry if there isn’t one. Instead, go buy one.
3. Having bought a new washer, use it to replace the old washer. The new washer goes exactly where the old washer is supposed to be. Remember that the hole in the washer should just be a little bit bigger than the post where the handle turns.
4. Start putting things together. Put everything in place, according to the opposite order of how you took it apart. After, you can put the handle back to its post and screw it on. When you screw it on, make sure that you don’t screw it in too tight so that you wouldn’t damage the brass fittings. Just keep it hand-tight.
5. After, you can start testing if you did the right thing. Turn water supply back on by moving shut off valve handles to the left or clockwise.
6. There shouldn’t be any leaky faucet if everything went well. If not, though, try tightening the screws a wee bit more, or repeat the whole process again. If that still doesn’t work, and if all else fails, admit defeat and call a plumber.
Miscellaneous Tips
In going to the hardware when buying a washer, ask an employee for assistance. He could recommend the specific washer that is used for your sink.
Sometimes, leaky faucets are due to lime build-up. If you notice that a lot of lime build-up is on your faucet handle post, remedy this by using lime away products to clean the build-up.
So don’t endure the annoying drip, drip, drip noise any further. Fix a leaky faucet yourself and reap the benefits of doing so – no hassle of calling a plumber, no high plumbing costs, and no more sleepless nights!
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