One of the most common – and the most irritating – things that a homeowner might have to deal with is a drippy or leaky faucet in a bathrooms or kitchen. Not only can the sound of that drippy or leaky faucet be enough to drive a person insane, but the amount of wasted water can really add up over time and result in an unnecessarily high water bill. For this reason, it’s important for homeowners to know what steps to take to deal with a drippy or leaky faucet.
Walter Tulecki is the proud owner of WT Mechanical, a plumbing, heating, and cooling company that has been serving Central New Jersey for the past 15 years, and according to him, drippy and leaky faucets are practically a staple in his industry. One thing that Tulecki wants homeowners to realize is that not all faucet issues are as easily fixable as others. While people often have the ability to fix their own faucets, in some situations, a professional’s help is truly required. Another thing that homeowners need to understand is that there is a difference between a drippy faucet and a leaky one.
Often, a homeowner will claim to have a leaky faucet, but in reality, what’s happened is that excess dirt has started to collect in the faucet’s aerator, thereby causing it to drip. The aerator is the mesh-like screen at the tip of the faucet that helps filter out the water. Often, the act of cleaning or replacing an aerator can be enough to stop a faucet from dripping. The good thing about replacing an aerator is that it’s both easy and cheap: An aerator can cost as little as 99 cents, and to replace it, you don’t need to shut down your water supply or do anything drastic from a plumbing perspective. As long as the faucet is in the “off” position, no water will escape during the replacement process.
In many cases, a homeowner will happily come to find that a new aerator is enough to stop a faucet from dripping. However, if cleaning or replacing the aerator does not seem to do the trick, then that means that there’s an actual leak in the faucet. While a handy homeowner might be able to tackle the source of the leak on his own, those who are less familiar with faucet parts and mechanisms might need to call a professional plumber.
So how do faucets suddenly come to leak? According to Tulecki, what happens is that there are either plastic or ceramic parts within a faucet that can simply start to wear out over time. As a result, a faucet can begin to lose its ability to properly retain water, even when it is in the “off” position. In some cases, a faucet in such condition can be salvaged by swapped out the affected parts, but in other cases, the faucet will need to be replaced in its entirety.
One thing that Walter does like to warn homeowners against is shutting their faucets in an overly tight, hard fashion in order to prevent them from dripping or leaking. Doing so will certainly not constitute any sort of long-term fix, and handling a faucet in an overly rough manner can sometimes cause additional damage.
As is the case with any other type of home repair, when it comes to drippy or leaky faucets, it’s important that you recognize when you’re in over your head. If your initial attempt to fix a faucet fails, then you might be best served by bringing in a plumber to assess the situation and tackle the problem at hand. Remember, there’s a reason why good plumbers are qualified to do what they do, and for what you’ll pay to have your faucet fixed, you’ll gain in minimized aggravation and time spent listening to the sound of that perpetual, maddening drip.
