Fixing that Drippy Faucet

That drip, drip, drip of the bathroom faucet may be more than just an annoying sound. A dripping faucet means dollars down the drain. While all those little drops of water may not seem like much, it can add up over time and if it’s the hot water that’s dripping you can more double the cost of that water that’s just going down the drain.

With a little prep work and a few basic tools you can fix that dripping faucet yourself and not only save a few dollars on the water bill, but the major expense of hiring a professional plumber as well.

Do Your Prep Work

The most important thing you can do when it comes to fixing a dripping faucet or any home repair project is to do your research. In other words, feel pretty confident that you know what you’re doing before you decide to tear anything apart. There’s nothing worse, or more embarrassing, than to have something all in pieces and find you have to call in a professional because you don’t have a clue as to how to put it back together.

You will need to have a couple tools to fix a dripping faucet and hopefully these are some basic pieces you already have on hand or possibly could borrow from a friend. A screwdriver, especially one of those with the interchangeable tips and a pair of pliers with the adjustable locking jaws are usually the only two tools you will need to fix a dripping faucet.

It helps to know the name brand of your faucet because often parts or repair kits are made to fit specific brands, although there are generic faucets and universal parts that will fit almost any faucet.

The most common causes of a dripping faucet are either loose or warn parts and obviously a loose screw is going to be a lot easier to fix than trying to replace a whole set of faucets. So try the obvious first.

The Six Simple Steps

1. Find the water shut off valves under the sink and turn those off. If you don’t find any valves under the sink, which may be the case in older homes, you will need to turn off the water supply to the whole house.

2. Place a folded towel in the sink in case you drop a small part. You don’t want another whole job of opening the drain to chase your faucet parts.

3. Most bathroom faucets will have caps, marked with the H and C for hot and cold. These can be gently pried off with the tip of a screw driver or a thin blade knife. You will find a center screw just under the cap. If these are rusty, you may have to use a little penetrating oil and give it time to work.

4. After removing the screw in the handle, unscrew the packing nut beneath it, exposing the stem. Remove the stem by rotating it clockwise and it should thread out.

5. Look at the bottom of the stem where you will see a rubber washer held in by a center screw. This may look worn or cracked and could be the cause of the your dripping faucet. Remove the screw and the old washer. You can buy a package if assorted washers and chose the one that matches the one you just removed. Be sure to replace the washer with the exact size and shape.

6. Now put everything back together. If you lay the pieces out in the order that you remove them, it will be easier to put it back together, but in this particular case there are so few parts that it shouldn’t be difficult. Don’t forget to turn the water back on.

While there are other types of faucets, the washer faucet with a compression seal is the most common type and replacing a worn washer is an easy first step in eliminating the cause as well as giving you confidence that you can not only fix that dripping faucet, but tackle almost any home repair yourself!