Old House Handyman: Fixing leaky faucet turns into family affair

Aug 19, 2023

Secretly, we each thought the other was a bathroom slob.

I’d go into the upstairs bathroom to wash up and find water on the counter at the backsplash, around and behind the faucet and its handles. Sometimes, I’d find water under the soft-soap dispenser or the toothbrush holder.

I’d mutter under my breath and wonder how the person before me in the bathroom (spouse? daughter?) could leave such a wet mess.

And it turns out, my family members were doing the same thing, each wondering (or blaming) the other for leaving a puddle on the counter.

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Finally, it became apparent to me that the problem was not my family. It was me — and the fact that I had not deduced long ago that the faucet was leaking.

Drat!

I was embarrassed, annoyed and frustrated all at once. How could I have not realized that the faucet needed help?

After all, it had been 15 years since we remodeled the bathroom, and I had never replaced the washers in the faucet.

Never.

The two-handled Delta faucet is equipped with ceramic cartridges. We bought the faucet because it is pretty and fit with the decor of our bathroom. I never looked into its guts. It was Delta. It looked good, and it fit our sink.

Fast-forward 15 years to the wet mess on the counter and now I care how about its parts and how it functions.

Actually, I went to the hardware store and bought the standard little washers-and-springs kit that I have used on other faucets (picture a hollowed-out eraser from the back end of a pencil with a fat, stubby spring stuffed inside), only to find that my faucets had none of those.

So, as is often the case with plumbing, I had to shut off the water and take apart one of the faucet handles to see what was going on. I tried cold first, thinking it would be easiest, because hot is often the first to corrode.

No go. It was corroded enough that I couldn't loosen it without help, and I was alone. So I tried the hot side, and I got it loose and pulled out the stem.

As is sometimes the case with plumbing, I found that it was a completely different system than I was used to seeing in such faucets! Drat again! No little eraser-like washers! No fat, stubby little springs!

I took the cartridge out and noticed the ceramic discs. I was not familiar with them. I was intrigued but also frustrated at the moment, because, hey, they were LEAKING!

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When I realized that I did not have the proper parts to fix the faucet — never mind that I did not have the help I needed to remove the cartridge on the cold side ― I put it back together so that we could use the sink until I could get the proper parts.

And guess what?! I was reminded again that I hate plumbing! I really hate it! Here's why: I put it back together the way it had been, and it leaked even more.

Not from the sides out onto the counter, but from the spigot. It wasn't full-blast, but it was enough water that you could brush your teeth without turning the handles.

I was exasperated. Of course, I was doing all of this when I had about a half-hour to spare. Silly me for thinking I could knock this off my to-do list in 20 minutes.

Soon, I was at the hardware store again, where I easily found the expensive cartridges. Plumbing guides describe the cartridges as having two ceramic discs, which have channels that align when rotated, and that allows water to flow and for the user to control the temperature. They are, without a doubt, the smoothest-operating faucet handles I have ever used.

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Fast-forward a few days, and Daughter No. 3 was in town for the weekend, so I asked her to help me with the sink. I needed her to use a wrench on the top side of the counter to loosen the faucet cartridge while I held the base of the faucet from under the counter. (Picture old man on his back with his head stuffed inside the bathroom vanity, cursing loudly about the sink and his back and the awkward contortions plumbers must perform.)

We got it apart. I raced to the hardware store to buy cartridges that cost about four times what the little stubby washers and springs cost, and we replaced them in minutes upon my return.

While we were tightening the last part in place, Daughter No. 3 said, "I’m glad to know this was a leaky faucet. I couldn't understand why you all were so sloppy in the bathroom."

Alan D. Miller is a former Dispatch editor who teaches journalism at Denison University and writes about old house repair and historic preservation based on personal experiences and questions from readers.

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