Plumbing for Dummies

You swear that you can almost compose a sonata with the endless pitter-patter of water dripping from the faucet in your bathroom. If you’ve had sleepless nights because you had to endure listening to that leaking faucet, you definitely have a plumbing problem. But if you happen to be the only adult in the house, with your handy hubby out of town for God knows how long, and you aren’t too keen on spending a lot for a plumbing repair guy, you might have to do some DIY plumbing.

When dealing with water leaks, the first thing you must do is shut off the main cutoff valve, and turn on the faucets to drain any water left.

Take off the cap on the faucet with the use of a flat-head screwdriver. Remove the handle by unscrewing the handle screw. Before replacing any parts, try to tighten the retaining nut, aka. packing nut. This is what holds the stem in place. If that doesn’t do anything to stop the leak, it’s time to move on to replacing the washers and O-ring. You can get these when you buy a repair kit from the hardware store.

Unscrew the retaining nut, stem and brass screw (this holds the stem washer in place). Remove and replace the stem washer. Remember to rub some silicon grease on the stem before replacing the new washer. Also coat the new washer with grease.

Remove the stem from the retaining nut. Replace the O-ring which sits just below the stem.

Reassemble the faucet handle, and you’re done!

(I am participating in a blogger campaign about plumbing repair and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.)

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