During my time off from work last week, I replaced the faucet in my kitchen. And because it’s my life mission to share my knowledge to benefit others, I’ve whipped up this handy DIY guide for anyone to use, free of charge. If you follow my simple steps outlined below, you’ll be able to tackle this “one-hour project” in right around three and a half hours.
To prepare, you’ll want to determine how many holes your sink has, and also decide on what style of faucet you want. Additionally, you’ll want to have some rags ready to soak up any water that drips out even though you’ve taken every reasonable precaution to prevent water from spilling/dripping.
1) Shut off the water supply to the faucet. And then run the faucet to make sure water and pressure have cleared out. (Approximate time to complete: 1 minute)
2) Remove the old faucet. When doing so, be sure to strip the three plastic bolts with which your old faucet is attached. And once they’re completely stripped of any surface that would allow you to grip them with your wrench (or pliers), spend a lot of time going between your sink and your basement (or wherever your tools are stored) trying to think of new things you could fit in the two inches of available space that could help you remove/break the plastic bolts without marring the sink. Note that if you have a Dremel or other high speed rotary tool that could be used, have someone hide it first so that you can’t find it now, when you actually need it. If you’re not the type who typically says curse words, loudly yell a few of them now, assuming no children are nearby. (If you are the type who curses a lot, you’re probably already doing that by now.) Finally settle on boring many small holes in the bolts with a small drill bit, then using the holes to get leverage with needle-nosed pliers. When that doesn’t work as planned, poke the ends of small wire cutters into adjacent holes, and squeeze really hard until the plastic between the holes breaks. Repeat that step until the plastic bolts no longer have enough structural integrity to hold the old faucet in place. Once the bolts are clipped away, gently rock the old faucet to break the seal of plumber’s putty that was hopefully there keeping a waterproof seal around the base. Scrape away any remaining putty on the sink, being careful to not scratch the sink’s surface. (Approximate time to complete: 195 minutes)
3) Put in the new faucet, as per the instructions provided with it. (Approximate time to complete: 10 minutes)
4) Turn the water back on, run the faucet. Immediately check for leaks, tighten any connections if necessary. (Approximate time to complete: 1-5 minutes)
Congratulations, you’re done!
April 13th, 2009
that is AWESOME.
April 13th, 2009
I find that when instructing people on how to do the same thing, (or something similar, like replacing the toilet seat) most people neglect to properly strip their plastic bolts. Unless you have to use either a dremel, hack saw, drill, some sort of acid, or small explosives in order to fully remove those plastic bolts, you simply aren’t doing it right. If you have all the tools at your side when you start the project, it should still take a minimum of 2 hours to get those off, and that’s assuming you’ve done it before. It gets frustrating trying to enlighten the general public about these sorts of things, but I hope this post of yours will at least make it a little easier when people google how to do this properly.
Some old Home Repair proverbs to remember:
“The only sure way to get the right part is to buy all the wrong ones first.”
“Measure twice, forget that measurement, eyeball it, then hope you have enough extra to do it properly the second time.”
“Manufacturers intentionally include extra parts to throw you off.”
“There’s no wrong way to use a pair of vice grips.”
“Often times, the simplest solutions is so ridiculously obvious that it should be ignored in favor of the one that requires no less than three separate power tools.”
“A trip to the hardware store is never wasted so long as new tools are acquired.”
April 13th, 2009
You and my husband may be related.
April 13th, 2009
if you asked me what a Dremel was this time last year, i probably would have guessed “German Figurine” but now i can proudly say i have one in my closet.
too bad i have no idea how to use it.
April 14th, 2009
Hey! Sounds like fun! I think I’ll do that today!
Oh, and by the way…happy birthday and stuff.
April 15th, 2009
so. being mr. fixit around the apartment complex for almost 7 years paul has now figured out that what he THINKS will take him only a short amount of time, always, without fail, takes him three times that much. it is just known that when he says he’ll be done in an hour, i will see him in three.
April 19th, 2009
“Finally settle on boring”
I did Omar, I sure did.
September 27th, 2009
We have a double sink in our bathroom, so I had the priviledge of doing this twice today. It only took me 4 trips to HomeDepot, and about 8 hours.
I agree that the hardest part of this job is removing the plastic bolts from the bottom of the faucet. I tapped various flathead screwdrivers with a hammer to turn the bolts. On the second sink, I had such a hard time that I eventually used my longest screwdriver and chissled through those bolts. We have corian, so I wasn’t as worried about splitting the counter.
Otherwise, I might have insisted on purchasing the drumel tool. When I remember that I would have had to pay $129 x 2 to have these faucets installed, I feel justified in buying a drumel tool for $80.
I’ve only heard good things about them. But wouldn’t it still be a bit of a pain to cut through the old faucet pipe? How long would that take?
Isn’t there anything that might grab those four edges on the plastic bolts allowing you to remove it with a drill (sorta like those “tap outs” you use to remove a stripped screw)?
Toby