Save Money – Change the Sink Faucet Yourself
A Sink faucet can be replaced very easily by anyone. You do not need to spend lots of money to get in a professional plumber. We will try to help you with three areas of basic information for you.
Choosing The Faucet
It is a good idea to remove your existing faucet from the wall mount sink and take it down to your local hardware shop when you go. This will make it easier to make sure that it fits properly although there is a basic size for the hook up for each usage.
Modern bathroom sinks have a wide variety of faucet designs that you can pick from and the first choice is between a faucet with a single or a double handle.
The normal bathroom sink faucet has a standard fitting of 4 inches while the bath tub is normally 8 inches but check yours. Get your tape measure out and, if you have chosen a double handled one measure the distance from the middle of one handle to the middle of the other. A single handle is different in that you actually need to measure the distance between the water hook up lines on the bottom of the faucet.
With that information you can choose the style that suits you best.
The Tools To Use
You will need wrenches to hold the shut off valve when you remove the current supply line as well as a pair of pliers to lock the channel or a basin wrench. The basin wrench is better as it is specially designed to work in small areas that are hard to get at.
Fitting The Faucet
First of all make sure that you have turned off the water supply to the sink, then you take off the pipes that bring the water in to avoid getting drenched.
Then remove those nuts which hold the faucet on to the sink which allows you to separate the facet from the sink itself. Next get a cloth and make sure that you thoroughly clean the area where you have removed the faucet from.
Now take your new unit and put it in where the old one came out of. It will be easier if someone else is at hand to guide you in keeping it in the right place while you fix on the new nuts to hold it in place.
Ensure that the nuts are tightened as much as you can and you are ready to link in the water supply pipes. When you turn the supply back on you must check that there are no leaks in the joints anywhere. If there are you will need to reinstall it and make sure that each bit is held in place tightly.
You could always use a bit of plumber’s putty just to make sure that there are no drips, especially between the sink and the faucet.
Then relax and work out how much money you have saved by fitting the sink faucet yourself.