Hello AT,
I've just moved into a new apartment and the bath tub/shower faucet leaks constantly. I've used all my brute strength to try to tighten it shut enough to stop the drip, but still a trickle comes out. Is this something I can repair myself or do I need to hire a plumber to come fix it?...
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As you can see from this photo there is a suspcious tile that is a different color from all the rest behind the part of the faucet where the water comes out, suggesting some past repair. Please let me know if there is anything I can do myself to avoid calling in a professional for expensive help. I'm reasonably handy and I own the apartment so I am willing to give a DIY repair a try.
Thanks! Laura
Dear Laura,
We're no pros at this but the problem has to do with the fact that the rubber lining in the on/off part of your faucet has worn out. This happens regularly and is a result of the type of water you have. Turning the tap more tightly won't help at this point.
Can you fix it yourself? Yes, but you should have more advice than ours. What you want to do is turn off the water (harder to do in a tub) and remove the tap pieces, pull out the old rotten rubber insert and insert a new one. Then reassemble.
Your local hardware store should be able to help as well.
Can anyone else help Laura as well?
The ask this old house website is perfect for this sort of problem. There's a bunch of info up there about fixing leaky faucets. Check it out by following this link.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/plumbing/article/0,16417,193895,00.html
i wonder if the problem is not deeper than that. the fact that the tile behind the spout is different than the surrounding tiles makes me think that the previous tenant had larger plumbing issues....
A tub in my mother's home had the same problem. She had to replace the stem inside the faucet handles. This can be tricky. She installed one side perfectly and the other gave her some problems.
Hi Laura,
Call your super, the problem is the faucet "knob" washer wears out from use. Check the temp of the water, whether cold or hot that's the one to fix..actually you should ask him/her to change both to avoid another leak.
Thanks for the advice! Is there a reason I would have to call the super? It sounds like these washers are in the handles of the hot and cold water on/off knobs, right? And I assume that the reason you have to turn off the water is that in order to remove the knobs you'll have to turn them all the way to the left (thus turning on the water) to unscrew them? Once the knobs are off I should jsut be able to bring them to the hardware store to get a replacement washer for them, correct?
You don't have to call your super -- you can do this yourself (assuming that the water shutoff valve is accessable in your apartment). It will help to have some sort of guide to look at though. I use a copy of The Reader's Digest Home Repair Guide from the '70s for all my plumbing work, but I'm sure you can find something online as well. The one thing you'll probably need which you likely don't have is a tool that fits over the stem of the handle to loosen the nut that holds everything together. It's sort of like a super long socket. You can get one at any hardware store for less than $20. They usually come with around four attachments to handle eight different nut sizes. It will give you a great feeling of satisfaction to do it yourself, and once you see how easy it is you'll never live with a leaky faucet again.
If your water is unusually hot the washer could be getting burned out by the heat. You will need to change the washer but more importantly fix the hot hot water issue.
I had the same problem in my building, super hot water and leaky tub faucet.
The maintenance men had to handle it for me as there are no individual shut-off valves in the apts.
They had to turn off the water to the entire building, 168 apts. and 5 offices to replace the valve!
This building was built in the 1970's. Such poor design.
The water is not super-hot, but the bathroom is old and it seems likely the washer within the faucet is just worn out. I know there's not a shut-off for the shower's tub/water supply in the apartment. Might there be one in the basement?
And does anyone know if it is my responsibility (financially) to fix this or if it is the co-op's responsibility? I am SURE that it's a significant enough drip to put added costs the water bill for the building.
I had my leaky sink faucet repaired with new washers by a plumber but the fix lasted only a few weeks before it started leaking again. The hot water in my condo building is unbelievably hot and may be to blame. Does anyone know what I can do about that, short of constantly replacing the knobs' washers?
As a general rule of thumb: problems with supply and waste lines in walls/floors are the co-op's headache; lines running to/from them, and fixtures, are yours.
Good luck with your leaky faucet.
Actually, screwing it tightly shut can be part of the problem. If you have rubber washers (and if your tub and shower set looks like this one you probably do) then overtightening will hasten their demise. In general it's a good idea to turn only until water stops coming out. Remember that a few last drops will come out even when it is fully shut off.
As you can see from the responses, this type of tub faucet assembly is going to continue to give you problems on an intermittent but regular basis. Especially where the faucet assembly is old and the valve seats are worn out.
It's probably a good idea to consider replacing the tub faucets with a pressure balanced tub faucet. These faucets, required in most new construction, prevent annoying and frequently dangerous temperature fluctuations in your shower. Meaning that when someone flushes a toilet upstairs, your shower water doesn't suddenly turn scalding hot. This is a job that usually your super can do, (my parent's co-op super replaced theirs), or you can hire a plumber. A new tile job is not needed, as decorative metal plates can be purchased and installed which cover the the old valve handle holes.
Keep in mind that water shut-off valves in apartment buildings do not resemble house water shut-offs. Look for what appear to be two plumbing pipe stubbs sticking out of a wall in or near your bathroom or kitchen including nearby closets. A valve handle, available from your super or a good hardware store, fits into these tubes, permitting you to shut off the water. Also don't be surprised if the shut-off valves for your water are in your neighbor's apartment.
If you're unable to find a water shut-off valve, you may wish to consider having shut off valves installed in your apartment so that future repairs or accidents don't require the shutdown of water to other apartments or your whole building.
John is exactly right. If you have a few $ to spare I would urge installing a thermostatic valve. It's a real luxury: you set it to the temperature you like, then just leave it there. Turn the shower on each morning, give it a moment or two to get up to temp, then step in. No fiddling. Doesn't sound like much but it's really nice.
Dear Laura,
DO NOT take this project on yourself. Though I have had the same problem several times and watched the super repair it I took it upon myself to repair it last time around - this was this past summer during one of the HOTTEST days (way over 90 degrees). I closed off the water valves in the apartment and proceeded to dismantle the faucet handle, no sooner did I get the handle off the water blasted out of the wall. It was blasting out like an open fire hydrant and I couldn't get the handle back on as the pressure of the water kept pushing it off - let me also state that it was SCALDING HOT water. I called the fire department who arrived and the Captain said he couldn't go into the basement to shut off the main water valve because it was not a "life threatening" situation. I had to bail steaming hot water out of the tub and into the toilet for more than 3 hours (so as not to flood my apartment and the apartments below me) before the building emergency service arrived to shut off the water - they couldn't fix the problem and I had NO water in the bathroom for 2 days (this happened on a Saturday) until they could replace the whole unit. My advise to you is to call in your super to repair it - thats whats he's there for.
Learned my lesson the hard way.
PS I had to then scrap and repaint the bathroom and foyer as a result of the hot water bubbling up the walls.