Blogging from the ghetto kitchen
The joys of home ownership… I am going completely insane with a very loud, dripping faucet!
But, if I were to buy another before renovating the kitchen I could (most likely) be wasting a lot of money on something that isn’t going to fit the new sink.
Don’t you just love the photo my iPhone caught? …Oh, did I forget to mention that I’m finally mobile blogging?
So.. My question, dear readers, is how do I stop this darn faucet from driving me entirely insane?? (we have tried a new nozzle but that didn’t help)
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
…Tanya
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I just had a plumber fix the same thing in my kitchen while he was here for a bigger job in the bathroom. In my case there were two little plastic pieces that needed replacing. He needed to take the faucet apart to fix it. If I or my hubby had been handy, he would have shown me how to do it, but unfortunately, neither of us is! Sorry, this probably doesn’t help very much.
From a super-non-handyperson, if it’s just for a few days/couple weeks before the renos, I’d be inclined just to put a big, dense, cloth underneath. But that’s just me.
Nancy (aka money coach)’s last blog post was… Yep, I’m Generation X, no doubt.
The thing that’s causing the leak is in the guts of the faucet, not the nozzle on the end.
Unfortunately there’s a hundred different “insides” – some faucets you can fix with a new washer or two, some require a sealing O-ring, some require a new cartridge. The cartridge is a chunk with all the washers & inside bits stuck in one removable lump. They market it as a consumer benefit but it’s actually a pain cos you end up spending more money and throwing more stuff away to fix the leak.
First – don’t forget to turn off the water to the sink!
The hard part of the process is taking the faucet apart… the screws are usually well hidden. You might need a jeweller’s screwdriver or an allen key to get it open. Things tend to be tight as well… might need an adjustable wrench at some point in the process.
No point giving up and calling a plumber if you don’t have the tools. These are all tools you’re going to need at some point anyway so you might as well spend $30 on the tools this time around & then you’re set for the next leaky faucet.
Take out all the inside parts. Secret tip: photograph them as you remove them so you know what order to put them back.
If anything looks unusually worn then that’s probably your culprit. Flat rubber washers should be flat – it’s not unusual for them to have a circular groove in them where the valve seat presses into them, but that’s usually the wear point anyway. You can sometimes scrimp with flat washers by turning them over & using the other side
You might spot an obvious piece of grit somewhere. If you’re feeling inquisitive you could clean the parts and put them back together to see if that fixes it. I tend to think once I’ve got it open I might as well replace the bits anyway.
Take whatever looks worn down Home Depot. They have dozens of little packs of washers & things that you can compare to and choose the right sized replacement. Total cost about $2
If it’s a cartridge faucet then you’ll probably have to find the make & model number on the faucet somewhere and buy the identical replacement cartridge. Then again, if you’re taking the old cartridge to Home Depot you can always compare against all of them until you find an exact match.
Oh, and while you’re down Home Depot buy a copy of their big orange DIY manual. It’s got step-by-step instructions for everything you’ll ever have to fix.
Jon Jennings’s last blog post was… Capturing video with Ubuntu (and a little rant)
@Kathryn – thanks for the info! I might just have to stick it out, rather than spending on a crappy faucet. If it were something easy, I might attempt, but, I have NO idea what I’m doing either
@Nancy – That’s a great idea — I’ll probably stick it out for now, but, it’ll be at least four or five months before I have enough saved to re-do the kitchen/cabinets. I didn’t get any updates in my mortgage (stupid CMHC being brutally conservative on their estimate)
@Jon – your comment came in as I was writing this… Thank you so much for some great ideas, and thorough info. I might just try that when my sweetie gets back into town in a few weeks time.
i am having a hints from heloise flashback … tie a string around the faucet so that the leaking water runs down the string instead of dripping … i have no idea if this works, but i remember reading it somewhere at some point.
btw … congrats on the new place and all the other fabulousness going on in your life!
michelle’s last blog post was… the new normal.
@Michelle –
another great idea… I’ll try that! 
And, thanks for the congrats! Hope you are doing great!
Cool ideas, I like Michelle’s and must remember that.
I had a leak once in an apartment I was in and I put a cutting board at an angle and swung the tap over to the cutting board so that the “drip” really just ran down the board and didn’t make any noise. That didn’t fix it, but kept the noise down until the landlord/plumber fixed it.
If you don’t do anything about it until Barry’s back in town you’ll have dripped enough water to fill Lost Lagoon – not very green.
As a short term measure, look under the sink and find the water shut-off valves to the faucet. There will be one for the hot & one for the cold. Try turning them both off (rotate clockwise) to stop the leak when you’re not using the sink.
If the faucet has separate controls for hot and cold, then you can probably leave the shut-off valve that feeds the ‘good’ side of the faucet on all the time. But if it’s a single control faucet you’re going to have to close them both.
Jon Jennings’s last blog post was… Capturing video with Ubuntu (and a little rant)
just move the faucet to the divider between the two basins and position the drip to run down the side. it won’t make any noise that way.
@Jon – I’ll turn them off in the meantime… good plan
@Noah – I’m using the cloth right now, and it’s working great!
Methinks you should just hire Jon to come over and fix it for you
sparklytosingle’s last blog post was… Whip It Up Week 2: Coconut-Ginger French Toast
I repaired a problem like that for my parents and a few months later changed out the former leaking faucet set for a brand new set that was much prettier. Neither operation was very difficult though they were time consuming due to the age of the old faucet. The mineral salts had “welded” the old faucet parts together. Jon, above, had excellent advice.
Utenzi’s last blog post was… If I Could
what a poor grammar