How to Fix a Leaking Faucet
A leaking faucet is easy to ignore. It starts as a slow drip, you tell yourself you will get to it, and a few months later it is still dripping. What feels like a minor nuisance can waste thousands of gallons of water over the course of a year, and in Arizona where water costs are real and rising, that adds up faster than most people expect.
The good news is that faucet leaks are fixable. The honest answer, though, is that the repair is more involved than it looks in most cases - and doing it wrong often makes things worse. Here is what you need to know before you start, and where the line is between a confident DIY fix and a job worth handing off.
Key takeaways:
Most faucet leaks are caused by worn internal components - cartridges, washers, O-rings, or ceramic discs
Hard water in the East Valley accelerates wear and makes cartridge removal more difficult
Identifying where the leak is coming from (spout, base, handle, or under sink) points to different repairs
For a basic drip repair, always turn off the shutoff valves, photograph before disassembly, and match the part exactly
Shower and bathtub faucet repairs are more involved than sink faucets and involve proprietary cartridges set into the wall
Older shutoff valves that do not fully close turn a simple repair into a much harder one
When in doubt, a plumber will have the right tools, the right parts, and can spot problems a DIY repair might miss
Why Faucets Leak
Most faucet leaks come down to worn internal components. The specific part depends on the faucet type:
Ball faucets (single handle that rotates over a ball) use springs, seats, and O-rings that wear out over time
Cartridge faucets (single or double handle) have a cartridge that controls water flow and temperature - when it wears, it drips
Ceramic disc faucets use a cylinder with ceramic discs that can crack or accumulate mineral deposits
Compression faucets (older two-handle style) use rubber washers that compress against a seat - the washer wears down and the drip starts
In the East Valley, hard water accelerates all of this. Mineral deposits build up inside valve bodies, on ceramic discs, and around cartridge seals, causing components to wear faster and making removal more difficult when it is time to replace them.
Where the Leak Is Coming From Matters
Before you start taking anything apart, identify exactly where the water is coming from.
Drip from the spout: The internal valve components have worn out. This is the most common type and what most people picture when they think of a leaking faucet.
Leak at the base of the faucet: The O-rings around the body of the faucet have failed. On a kitchen faucet, this often shows up as water pooling around the base of the spout.
Leak under the sink: Supply line connections, shutoff valves, or the faucet's supply connections have loosened or the braided hose has failed.
Leak around the handle: The packing nut or cartridge seal behind the handle has worn out.
Each of these has a different fix, and they are not always interchangeable. Replacing a cartridge when the real issue is a supply line connection under the sink will not solve the problem.
The Basic DIY Approach
If you are comfortable doing this yourself, here is the general process for the most common repair - a dripping spout on a cartridge or compression faucet.
What you will need:
Adjustable wrench and pliers
Flathead and Phillips screwdrivers
Replacement cartridge or washers (bring the old part to the hardware store to match it)
Plumber's grease
Towels and a small bucket
Steps:
Turn off the water supply at the shutoff valves under the sink, or at the main if the fixture shutoffs are not reliable. Turn on the faucet to release pressure and drain the lines.
Remove the handle. There is usually a decorative cap covering a screw on the top or back of the handle. Pop it off with a flathead screwdriver, remove the screw, and pull the handle straight off.
Note how everything is oriented before you remove it. A photo with your phone before disassembly saves a lot of frustration on reassembly.
Remove the cartridge or packing nut and washer. Cartridges typically pull straight out with pliers - some have a retaining clip that needs to come off first. Compression washers are held by a brass screw at the bottom of the stem.
Take the worn part to a hardware store and match it as closely as possible. For cartridges, brand and model number matter - an approximate match often will not seat correctly.
Install the new part, reassemble in reverse order, turn the water back on slowly, and check for leaks before putting everything back together.
Where DIY Faucet Repair Gets Complicated
This is where it is worth being honest about what you are getting into.
Hard water makes removal difficult. In Mesa and throughout Maricopa County, cartridges and valve stems that have been in place for several years are often fused in by mineral deposits. Forcing them out without the right technique can damage the valve body itself - and at that point you are no longer replacing a cartridge, you are replacing the entire faucet.
Shower and bathtub faucets are a different job. Access is limited, the valve bodies are set into the wall, and the variety of cartridge types is much wider than under a sink. Moen, Delta, Kohler, and other manufacturers all use proprietary cartridges, and identifying the right replacement requires knowing the valve series, not just the brand. Getting it wrong means reassembling the wall only to find the leak is still there.
Older two-handle setups require more disassembly. Compression faucets common in homes built before the 1990s often have corroded packing nuts and seat washers that crack during removal. If the brass seat inside the valve body is damaged, the repair requires a seat wrench and sometimes a replacement seat - tools and steps most guides leave out entirely.
The shutoff valves may not fully close. This is a consistent issue in older East Valley homes. If the angle stops under the sink do not close completely, you are working with live water pressure throughout the repair. That turns a simple job into a much more stressful one.
When to Call a Plumber
A faucet drip is one of those repairs where the gap between what it looks like and what it actually involves can be significant. Consider calling a plumber when:
The leak is at a bathtub or shower valve set into the wall
The cartridge will not come out without significant force
You have removed the handle and cannot identify the valve type or find the right replacement part
The shutoff valves under the sink do not fully close
There is evidence of water damage under the sink or behind the wall
The faucet is more than 15 to 20 years old and multiple components are showing wear
A plumber will have the right cartridge puller, the correct replacement parts on the truck, and the experience to recognize when a repair is straightforward versus when something else is going on behind the scenes. In most cases a faucet repair is not a long visit, and you end up with a fix that actually holds.
In Arizona's hard water environment, a repair done correctly the first time also lasts significantly longer than one where the components were not fully cleaned, seated, or lubricated before reassembly.
Superstition Plumbing has served Mesa and the East Valley for 45 years. If you have a leaking faucet - at the sink, tub, or shower - we will take a look, give you a straight answer on what it needs, and get it fixed right the first time.
