It is nice to acquire some handy man skills during the course of your life that can and will enhance your value as a husband and provider once you take the big step towards matrimony. The more skills you pick up the more money you can save that can go to other things like your childrens education, clothing, wife’s shopping sprees, etc. Learning to cope with your better half’s spending sprees, believe me they all have a little shopaholic in them, the better off you will be learning skills that will help you offset your better half’s addictions.
Contents
What Does A Plumber Cost Nowadays?
Plumbers range anywhere from $50 to $100 dollars an hour. Fixing a leaky faucet for instance, depending on the make and model of the faucet, could take up to two to three hours, time you find the proper parts, make the trip to get them, take out the old faucet stem and replace with another. Or, depending on the type, you might just have to replace the o-rings and washers. Without this expertise it might run you anywhere from $200 0 $300 dollars to pay the plumber to do it and still not have a new faucet installed.
How To Do It
Replacing parts in a leaky faucet is fairly easy if you know what the make and model of the faucet is, have a plumbing supply house or Home Depot close at hand, have the necessary tools already on hand to do the work, and have some legitimate handy man skills that will be able to do the work. Most sink faucets, lavatory faucets, have 0-rings and washers that are attached to the controlling faucet stem on the hot and cold side that are covered up by a escutcheon. These are a simple matter to remove so you can get right at the problem.
Fist you might want to shut off the water under the sink or lavatory that will just take a few turns to the right so that you will be able to get to the stems. Attach a vise pliers at the bottom so it will not turn while you use another pair at the top to back off the faucet stem and take completely out.
0-rings and washers can be bought in small packages in plumbing shops using their catalogs to find the right make and model. This part may be exceedingly hard to do because your type of faucet may be 10 to 15 years old and their may not be proper parts still around to do the job.
The Easy Way To Go
To uncomplicate things at this point it would probably be better if you installed a brand new faucet instead of trying to repair an old faucet because it will take you just about the same amount of time and will look much more skilled when you have it in when done properly. Again it will depend on the make and model of what was already installed as to what you want to go with for a new one. Kitchen sinks are usually 8 inches center to center. You will then have to find a faucet for your sink that is 8 inches center to center. For a lavatory faucet it is usually 4 -6 inches center to center so it is necessary to find the proper size in order to be able to install.
Directions
It is a simple matter to find directions with the accompanying package that will show you step by step how to remove the old and install the new. Always remember to shut off the water underneath the sink so you will have no problems with your installation. There are some faucets that have a mixer in the middle that will only have one handle that will adjust your hot and cold for you. It is advisable to go with the mixer because the less parts you have to deal with the less things can go wrong in the future.
Conclusion
Most kitchen & lavatory faucets parts made in the past were made with brass which were not made to last very long. It is always a good idea when repairing faucets to go with the new and do not bother with the repair kits because it it too time consuming and quite frankly not really worth the effort. You will just be replacing new parts in an old faucet, so just do the right thing and go with the new faucet, a good mixer if you can. When directions are followed properly your new faucet will look like a shiny new piece of excellent hardware was done by a true handy man.
