Faucet Installation Guide
No matter how modern or well-designed your home might be, the entire charm would go to waste if you have old and somewhat dysfunctional faucets installed around the place. Faucets are a major part of your house, be it a kitchen faucet, a bathroom faucet, or faucets in the laundry area, etc.
Therefore, it is essential to have regular maintenance done to the bathroom and kitchen faucet and simultaneously, ensure that you replace any old faucet or a leaky faucet with a new faucet.
Common Faucet Issues
A bathroom or kitchen faucet always has a connection with your house’s water supply lines via faucet supply tubes. Therefore, if there is any damage or malfunctioning in the lines, it would hinder the flow of water through the supply lines and water might not come out of the kitchen faucet.
In such cases, replacing the damaged supply lines or making amendments to fix the problem would be necessary.
Here are some of the common problems you might face regarding bathroom and kitchen faucet installation and its working order throughout your home.
- Leaky Faucet
A leaky faucet or a dripping faucet is one of the most common faucet problems you might encounter. This causes a damage to both your house as well as your wallet.
The leak could either be from a pipe, hose, a loosen nut, from valves, hoses such as a spray hose, or even from the main body of the faucet. The continuous water flow could damage your sink. Your sink might get rusty and the the sink could deteriorate in a long run.
At the same time, the water flow would also increase your water bill, making a dent to your wallet.
Therefore, you must call a plumber for fixing the issue immediately and make sure that any installation and connections done, especially of a new faucet onto the sink are of good quality and would not have any leaks in the future.
- Problem with Water Temperature
A bathroom or kitchen faucet supplies both hot and cold water. Sometimes, if there is any problem in the kitchen faucet installation or any other malfunctioning in the supply lines, you might not receive either hot water or cold water from the faucet or both the hot and cold water connections could get mixed.
This would cause discomfort to the user and thus, it is important to get this issue fixed. Many people install a kitchen faucet with a deck plate onto the sink to prevent such problems.
- Blockage in Supply Lines
With continuous use and irregular maintenance, your water supply lines might get blocked due to accumulation of dirt and exogenous substances. This would result in a very slow water pressure from your bathroom and kitchen faucet.
Therefore, a low pressure in the bathroom or kitchen faucet would make daily tasks a big struggle for you, especially if you are used to using pull-out faucets or hose.
Calling plumbers to take over this job and fix the issue would be a smart move to do. The plumbers would clean the blockage in the drain, the supply tubes, drainage holes, any blocked pipe lines and hose, etc., and get the water pressure right for you. They would also install a proper valve, nuts, and bolts to give you access to flowing water throughout.
- A Noisy Faucet
A faucet like an old kitchen faucet or even a new faucet could make a loud noise when it is turned on. This could be due to loosen nuts, narrow pipes, a wrong-sized washer, or even loosen faucet connections.
Make sure to install, attach and connect all the faucet parts correctly. Tighten the bathroom and kitchen faucet valve and all the nuts well and replace any worn-out pieces of equipment such as old rubber. angle stops, any outdated hose or a valve there may be.
- Rusty and Stained Faucet
If your faucet installation was not rust-proof, then rust and hard to remove stains could accumulate on your bathroom and kitchen faucet overtime. This would make your overall sink look really old and dirty as well.
If the rust gets worse, it can slowly stain your sink and other installations in your kitchen and bathroom. Untreated rust could even result in leaks.
The water leaking from the rusty faucet and valves mixed with the rust would ultimately stain your shower, kitchen cabinet or bathroom cabinet, and other pipelines as well.
The rust could also compromise the quality of water coming out of the faucet by mixing with it internally. You can take note of this by filling a small bucket with water from the rusty faucet and noticing any rust particles in the water of the bucket. If this happens, it would be absolutely unhealthy to use that water.
Therefore, you should install rust-free kitchen and bathroom equipment.
Understand Faucet Installation and Repair
Any problems with your bathroom and kitchen faucet installation and working would often be visible to you. Once you know that there is a problem with your faucet, you should understand how faucet installation and its repair works to prevent any major losses in the long run.
Know the Type of Faucet You Own
Having basic knowledge about the kind of faucet installation you have is a must. You should be able to understand the internal mechanics and parts that go along with the faucet you install in your house and even have basic tools ready at your convenience incase you might have to fix a plumbing issue urgently.
Here are some of the common types of faucets people install around their homes.
- Compression Faucet
This is a traditional yet practical faucet design still in use today. It comprises of a rubber washer and two knobs or handles with a hose for hot and cold temperature water separately installed on the sink.
- Faucet with Cartridge
This is a take on an existing faucet model and it comes in either a one or two handle design. This looks very stylish on a sinks as well, especially in a bathroom or a kitchen. The pull-down faucet design elevates its beauty.
- Ball Faucet
You can install this faucet on any sink as it can be attached easily. It has a single lever which can connect with a plastic or a metal ball within the faucet. As you move the lever, the ball would also move, enabling the water to flow from the valve or the pipes.
- Ceramic Disk Faucet
This is also a faucet with a single lever, mostly seen attached to a kitchen sink. It is sometimes referred as a one-hole faucet. Your plumber can easily have this faucet installation done by adding a deck plate to it on the kitchen sink or a bathroom sink.
Close up the Main Water Supply
Before starting any fixtures or before replacing any old faucet accessories, it is important that you shut off the main water supply by closing the water valves and blocking the flow of water through the water lines.
If you have a separate faucet connection with the water lines, you can disconnect the existing faucet from the water lines or have angle stops to prevent the flow of water from the broken faucet.
Whatever the problem might be with the faucet installation, the plumbers most often would have to take the faucet apart to access the main issue.
Most faucets can be divided into two parts; the main body of the faucet and the handle portion which is connected by a nut.
By getting the faucet apart, the workers would know where the main problem lies and this would make their repairing job a lot easier.
Find the Right Solution
After diagnosing the problem, it is important to find the right solution to it. You have to understand whether your faucet installation just needs some cleaning to get the water flow back to normal, or whether there is some part or accessory which is broken or has cracks in it. If the latter is the case, you would have to disconnect the broken parts and replace them and install, attach, and connect new ones.
It is important to note that installing small parts such as new nuts, water valves, hoses, small water lines, a deck plate, a spray hose, clean sink holes, etc. would not cost you a lot. However, if you continue using the damaged faucet pieces thinking that you shall replace them once their condition worsens would be a foolish thing to do. Especially if you hang on using an old faucet with broken pipes, valves, hose, holes, and nuts, it would cause further and major damage to your home and even to the main water supply tubes which would cost you more than you can imagine.
Therefore, to save bigger expenditures, you must disconnect and replace the broken kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet accessories as replacing them earlier would be better for you in the future.
Have the Right Tools
As basic as it is, you must keep in mind to have the right tools for making repairs to your kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet installation. The plumbers you hire either replace an old faucet with a new faucet such as having a new kitchen faucet installed, replace any broken parts, fix any leaks in the kitchen or the bathroom, or just have any regular maintenance done, it is vital that they have a proper professional tool kit with them.
The tool kit must contain a basin wrench, an adjustable wrench, a pipe wrench, a pair of slip joint pliers, a p trap, a variety of nuts, bolts, and other items required during any plumbing task.
The Right Basin Wrench and Adjustable Wrench
A basin wrench would allow the worker to have a new faucet installation done, such as having a new kitchen faucet installed on the kitchen basin or sink. The adjustable wrench would help the worker tighten nuts and valves while installing the faucet on the kitchen or bathroom sink.
Extra Materials Required for a new faucet installation
The plumbers should also carry extra materials from the hardware store with them, in case they require them during the installation process. They should carry silicone caulk tape, a good quality drain opener, an aerator opener, penetrating oil, etc. These are all important things they might require while working. For instance, silicone caulk tape could be used while the worker’s hand tightens the pull-lever faucet onto the sink for extra stability and security.
The aerator opener is a must to clear out any blockages in the aerator. You attach an aerator to the end of a faucet to control the water stream. Thus, a clean and working aerator is a must for a smooth and splash-free flow.
A strong drain opener would be useful in a bathroom sink or a kitchen sink to loosen any gunk that has been accumulated in the pipes and eventually drain it away. This drain opener would be poured through the holes of the sink for easy cleaning and immediate effects. However, since different chemicals work differently, it is important to read the manufacturer’s instructions before using them.
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