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. Turn off the water supply. Look under your sink and search the pipes for a shutoff valve. Once you locate it, turn its handles counter-clockwise to shut it off.
2. Always keep a collection of replacement parts like washers and O-rings handy. This is to save you from time in looking for one. 3. Make sure you plug the drain (you can use rags). The worst thing that can happen is when small parts like a screw or washer goes down the drain.
4. As you go about your work, remember to line up the parts according to the order it was taken apart. This is so that you will be able to reassemble it correctly later on. 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. Afterwards, remove the old washer located behind the handle.
If there's none available, buy one. 3. Using the washer that you've purchased, place it where the old washer used to be. The hole in the washer should just be a little bit bigger than the post that 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.
By this time, your faucets shouldn't be leaking. If it still does though, you could choose to repeat the whole process or resolve to tighten the screws just a little bit more. If that still doesn't work, give up and call a plumber. Hey, at least you tried. Miscellaneous Tips Upon going to the hardware to purchase a washer, make sure that you ask assistance from the employee. He or she might just know what specific type of washer is needed for sinks, or for the type and brand of sink that you have at home.
Lime build up can be a cause for leaky faucets. If you observe lime build up on your faucet handle post, you can clean it off using lime away products. With that, there's really no need for you to call a plumber and pay huge plumbing costs right? Just get up, fix a leaky faucet yourself, and sleep in pure, unadulterated slumber.
Know how to fix a leaky faucet yourself. All you need is your faucet guide!
