It's just about time you learn how to fix a leaky faucet if you constantly experience having to wake up in the middle of the night to the irritating noise of drip, drip, drip from a leaky faucet. By doing so, you will eliminate the need for a plumber, and consequently, high plumbing costs. And of course, the best part is, no more sleepless nights.



Why call a plumber when you can do it by yourself? This article will show you how to fix a leaky faucet in simple and easy to understand steps.

Here are just some of the basic materials and tools you will need:

- Screwdriver - Washers

Before You Start

1. Switch off the water supply. Look underneath your sink, maybe along the pipes, for a shutoff valve. Turn the handles counter-clockwise to turn off the water.

2. Keep an assortment of replacement parts at hand. This includes washers, O-rings, and etc.

3. Make sure to plug down the drain (maybe with rags). This is to avoid having small parts like screws and washers go down the drain.

4. While working, line up the parts according to the order it was taken apart. This will later on guide you in reassembling it correctly.

Start Working!

1. First, take the faucet handles off. You can do this by using your screwdriver to remove the screw that is holding them on. Once you've removed the screws, lever the handles open using a flathead screwdriver.

2. Once the faucet handles are removed, detach the old washer located behind the handle. Don't worry if there isn't one. Instead, go buy one.

3. With the new washer that you just bought, replace the old washer. Put it where the old washer used to be. Keep in mind that the hole in the washer must be just a little bit bigger than the post where 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. Hopefully, your faucets wouldn't be leaking by this time. That is if everything went well. If not, you can always try to tighten the screws a little bit more or do the whole procedure over again. If you were still not able to stop the leak, it's probably time you face it and call a plumber.

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.

If your faucet handle post contains nasty lime build-up, clean it up using lime-away products. Sometimes, lime build-up can be a cause for leaky faucets.

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.