How To Fix Or Replace A Leaking Tap

That steady drip, drip, drip of a leaking tap is enough to drive anyone crazy. Not only is it bad for your water bill, but a leaking tap is also bad for the environment. Leaking taps are usually caused by worn out parts - usually a gasket or O ring. Luckily, repairing or replacing a leaky tap is an easy fix you can do on your own.

Replacing a bathroom tap is fairly straightforward and upgrading to a new tap can make a difference in how polished your bathroom looks. If you’re ready to say goodbye to your leaky tap, and hello to a new upgrade to your bathroom, these steps will have a new tap in your home quickly.

Step One: Turn the water off

Your water shut off valve is located under the sink. Turn the valve until the water is completely shut off. If a shut-off valve isn’t available underneath the sink, you’ll have to turn off the water for the whole house to safely repair or replace the tap.

Turn the tap on until no more water flows out of the tap, so you don’t inadvertently get wet from water still in the pipes while you are doing the repair.

Step Two: Remove the tap

Not all taps will be removed in exactly the same way. First, check to see if there is a set screw behind the tap. If there is, an Allen wrench should do the trick to remove the tap. If the tap has a cover, you can pry it off with a screwdriver, and then remove the tap by unscrewing the screw.

Step Three: Remove the tap cartridge

The tap cartridge is the part that helps regulate hot and cold for your sink. Remove this by loosening the packing nut, and then pull the whole part straight up and out of the sink.

This is also the part of the sink that is most likely to be the cause of any leaking, so if you’re repairing it, take a close look at it. If something is damaged, such as the gasket or O ring, replace it with parts from your repair kit and reinstall.

Step Four: Put the tap cartridge and handle back

Once you’ve made any repairs necessary, or have removed the old cartridge and have the new tap at the ready, it’s time to put it all back together. This is fairly straightforward. The cartridge goes in and is locked down with the nut, the tap cover goes over the top and is locked down with a screw in the reverse of the first steps.

Step Five: Test your work

The final step is to turn the water back on and test your work. Turn the tap on and make sure the tap is running as expected and that there are no leaks or other problems.

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