The Leaky Faucet Gets the Love

As I’ve said before, elementary plumbing is nothing to be afraid of, and knowing your way around your bathroom fixtures can save you a lot of money and time.

When the Pie and I first moved in together, we had a massive apartment in Ottawa’s Little Italy: fifteen hundred square feet. Three bedrooms, each with its own sink, two bathrooms, and of course the kitchen sink. And every single faucet dripped. Not only was this loud and annoying, but a complete waste of water.

When confronted with this conundrum, my landlord, whose grasp of English was rudimentary at best, thought hard for a minute before telling me to “just-a turrrn eet reeeel a-hard.”

Not surprisingly, this rather simplistic solution had already occurred to me. And of course simply turning the tap “reeeeel a-hard” did nothing.

Fixing a leaky faucet is probably one of the more simple things you can do yourself, however, so I was able to fix the six sinks myself in no time.

Faucets usually leak because the washer in the faucet needs to be tightened or replaced. In most cases, a simple tightening will do. Each tap handle has a little cap on it, usually the thing that tells you whether the tap is HOT or COLD. Use a putty knife or other flat object to pry these caps off.

Underneath you will see the screw that holds the washer in place.

If the washer needs replacing you can just unscrew it and stick a new one in, but most of the time you just need to stick the screwdriver in and tighten the screw as far as it will go.

Replace the caps, maybe after cleaning around the hole a bit first, and there you go. No more leaky faucet. Five minutes of love gives you so much peace.