Saturday, March 17, 2012

Fixing a Leaky Faucet

We have hoses attached to all the exterior faucets -- one in each corner of the house. The main one for the garden appears to have been leaking -- a slow drip -- for the past year, so I figured this would be a good time to fix it.

Unfortunately, when I went to take the top off of the faucet, to replace washer, the faucet all but fell apart. The handle shattered into 5 or 6 pieces, and the base would not come off. Of course, Home Depot (where I bought the original faucet) no longer carries this brand, so there are no replacement parts.

And the copper pipe that it was attached to wanted to turn, rather than letting loose of the faucet.

Given that it was likely that I would break the pipes, I figured it was better to call an actual plumber. I chiselled out the mortar around the faucet and the pipes. This exposed a connection which the plumber says is an electrical grounding connection.

Lanier Plumbing sent a guy out who did an excellent job. He put an extension on the pipe that converted it from male threads to female threads, and should be more durable, plus being longer. That should make it easier to replace the faucet in the future. $122.88 for an hour's worth of work plus the faucet (male hose bib).




I still have to repair the mortar.

2 comments:

  1. You got a great deal from your plumber, CrazyJim! What you did was the right thing. If you doubt you can fix things around your house (in this case, your faucet), it would be a wise decision to call a professional to do it for you. Oftentimes, plumbers offer a contact line that’s open 24/7. How about yours?

    Darryl Iorio

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  2. I'm with Darryl on this one. I know it'll cost me a couple of hundreds to hire a professional to do it for me, but at least I'm assured that it'll be done properly and no further problem will occur. I already have a trusted plumber that can get any job done, plus he bills me with a reasonable price! :)

    Brenda Level

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