Find Out How to Fix Your Leaky Faucet

A leaking faucet is more than just an annoyance in the middle of the night. It also wastes money. If your faucet drips once per second, you end up wasting several thousands of gallons of water every year. A leaky faucet can increase your water by about 10%. If you have a leaky faucet, it's something that you can repair yourself. 

Necessary Tools

• Adjustable or C wrench
• Flat head or Phillips head screwdriver
• Washers and O rings
• Duct tape
• Rag
• Lubricating oil

Repairing the Faucet

Before you do anything, you need to make sure that you turn off the water. There should be at least one knob under the sink, attached to the water pipe. Turn any and all knobs so that there is no water running to your sink. Test the faucet to make sure that you turned off the water, and to get any remaining water out of the pipes. After you have turned the water off, put a rag over the drain hole in the sink. The reason for doing this is so that you don't lose any of the parts to your faucet down the drain. That would mean a whole different repair. 

The next step is to wrap a little bit of duct tape around the ends of your wrench. It won't make the wrench slip. What it will do is keep the wrench from scratching your faucet while you are working. Now it's time to actually do the repair work. 

If you have any decorations on top of the handles, you need to use the screwdriver to pry it up so that you can get to the screw. Then you need to unscrew that screw. If it sticks, then you can use some of the lubricating spray. You may need to let that sit for a moment or two to get down into the threads. When everything is unscrewed, you should be able to just lift the handles up and off. 

You should see a nut after you take the handles off. Use your wrench to loosen that and take it off. That will let you take the stem of the faucet off. Then you can get to the washer and O ring. They are generally the leaky part. Now, it's important that the washer and O ring fit exactly. If they don't, you are going to be back at the same place you are now. You can either take the pieces to the hardware store with you, or you can look for a package that has assorted types and sizes. 

Then all you need to do is put the washer and O ring in, seat them firmly, and replace everything in the order you took it off. Turn on your water, and see if you fixed your leak. 

If you don't feel like you can handle fixing a leaky faucet or replacing the washer and O ring doesn't do the trick, it's time to turn to professional help. Have a plumber (like those at C J Plumbing & Heating) come out and check everything over for you. 

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