How to repair a leaking kitchen faucet? Repairing a leaky kitchen faucet can seem like a very daunting task. Even if you are not a very capable plumber, there are still some simple things you can do before calling a professional.
Leaky faucet can cause you hell of a problem and you might lose a lot of water to the drain unnecessarily. It is wise to fix the leaky faucet either by yourself or by calling the plumber. Using plumber to fix the leaking kitchen faucet would need spending a lot of money. Instead you can do this work yourself.
Tools needed to fix a leaking kitchen faucet
The tools that are needed to fix a leaking kitchen faucet are the screwdriver and an adjustable wrench. If you know the type of washer that your faucet uses, then you might also need it. Otherwise you have to find it out after you open the kitchen faucet.
How to repair a leaky faucet?
The following are the steps needed to fix a leaky kitchen sink faucet.
As a first step in fixing the leaky faucet is that you have to close down the source of water supply to the faucet. This means you would be required to close the valve at the bottom of the sink. If you do not find any such valve there might be some water shutoffs for the entire home. Shut if off.
Now you have to open the faucet and drain the water that is available in the pipe. Now put a towel covering the sink so that you do not lose any small screws that you unscrew from the faucet.
Removing the faucet handle is the next step. The screw holding the faucet handle might be hidden under a cap which is usually decorated for aesthetics. You can use a screwdriver to loosen this cap.
Now remove the faucet and check out what repair you have to do. Usually you may have to replace an old washer.
Buy a new washer from the stores. You may take the old washer with you for reference. Replace the old washer with a new one.
Keep the valve unit in its place and tighten the screws needed and place the decorative cap. Turn on the water shutoffs and check it again for any leakage.
Points that might help you in fixing the leakage
While dealing with the faucets you might find out that some of the kitchen faucets do not have washers. Instead they have disc mechanism or a cartridge mechanism to control the flow. Compression faucets and dual handle faucets are also available now-a-days.
Some of the kitchen sink faucets that you deal might be costly when they are made of chrome or brass. In such cases you have to take precautions to protect the fixtures while you are repairing it. One of the easiest ways is to use a cloth on your wrench when you work with such fixture.
