How to Fix a Leaky Faucet

If you faucet is running, then you had better go catch it. Middle school jokes aside, fixing a leaky faucet is often easier said than done. In this article, I will give tips on how to fix a leaky faucet.

The first thing that you must do is to turn off the water to the faucet. You will have to make sure to look under the sink for pipes that are going to run to the leaky faucet. Somewhere near the pipes, you will see some handles. In order to shut off the water that runs to the sink, you can use these handles. The best way to accomplish this is to turn the handles in a clockwise manner. Left hand turns, on the other hand, will not do anything for you.

After you get done turning off the water, be sure to plug the sink back up. To accomplish this, you can either rely on the already built in tool for doing this within the sink or you could use a homemade remedy, such as a rag. If you do not do this, you risk losing necessary tools down the drain during your work.

To continue this process, make sure you take off the faucet handles from your sink. You can do this easily by removing the important screw that is holding them in place. If you have a screwdriver, then you are on your way in this step. If the screw requires, you might have to remove a plastic cap on top of the screw in order to get to it. When you get rid of the screws that are holding the faucet in place, you must remove the handles on the pipe with your screwdriver. Sometimes, you will get lucky and you will not even need the screwdriver in order to remove the handles.

When you get done with this, you will need to take the old washer from the handle. You must do this in order to guarantee that your leak does not stay in place. You are going to have to head to the store and buy a new washer. After you have done this, you will want to put that washer where the old one was. In order to know if you are buying the right kind of washer, you will want to buy one with a hole just bigger than the rod that the handle will turn on.

From here, you must simply put the handle back there it was and screw it in. You should make sure to tighten it, so that it doesn’t come loose. From there, you can turn the handles that are underneath the sink in order to turn the water back on.

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