I have a dripping faucet thats annoying the piss out of me but don’t want to bother anyone I know to come replace it- how hard of a project is this for one who has never done any household repair work of this type before? And if not hard, is there a good website with clear instructions on how to do so? Thanks.
You don’t need to replace the faucet: you just need to replace the rubber washer inside.
It’s fairly easy. A lot depends on what you want to do, of course. If it’s just a matter of it dripping, you may just need to replace the washer. That involves shutting off the water, opening up the faucet, finding a replacement washer (you can get all-purpose washer kits at any hardware store), unscrewing the old one, putting in the new one, and putting everything back together.
Replacing the entire assembly is a little more difficult – often it is hard to turn the screws that hold the faucet in place in the sink – but not a major project either.
Before you decide that the faucet needs replacing, turn the water off where it enters the house, and unscrew the handle tops on the faucet. Check the valve seals for wear. They probably need replacing. Any decent hardware store will have a selection of different types of seals. Take yours along, and find a match.
This’ll cost you between 50 cents and eight bucks. A new faucet’ll cost $60 or more.
I agree with you can either replace the washers or the faucet stem (the part that unscrews out of the faucet)
However if you decide to change the faucet you must buy a basin wrench. The job is impossible without one.
With one, it ranges from hard to difficult.
It may be a little more difficult than it seems at first. If it’s a bathroom faucet there is probably a connection to the drain pipe for the sink stopper. From experience, it seems that everytime you touch a drainpipe it starts leaking. When that happens you might as well replace the whole drain assembly because trying to find and fix the leak can be a headache.
The actual faucet replacement, as long as the new faucet matches the holes in the sink is normally quite straightforward. As Rick said, have the basin wrench when you start or you are going to have to go looking for one at some point.
The other thing to keep in mind is that if you are buying a quality faucet with a lot of brass parts and threads there will probably be small burrs that can cut your fingers and hands that are not used to handling that kind of stuff on an everyday basis. A plumber’s hands are used to it. Just be aware because tiny cuts can be annoying.
Good luck, the end result is satisfying.
Thanks all- I think the seal/stem route will be the one I’ll go with- I’ve never used a basin wrench. 
It’s a standard 70’s bathroom faucet- I pried off the circular cap and then I see a screw- after I unscrew this, will the seal be right there, or will I have to dig deeper?
It depends on what kind of faucet it is. If you buy a seal replacement kit that matches your type of faucet before you start taking it apart, they frequenly will have an exploded diagram of where everything goes, and possibly directions. If you do have to dig deeper, just make sure to note the order so that everything goes back in the way it came out.
The valve stem will unscrew and you’ll see a little rubber gasket screwed onto the end of it. That’s the valve seal you’ll want to replace. It’s attached with a screw. Be careful loosening that screw. They’re usually made of brass or bronze, and corroded. The combination of soft metal and corrosion makes it easy to strip the slot or phillips head.
My Mom replaced all the stems in her house when she was in her 70s; so it’s not too hard.
She did reverse the stems, putting the right stem on the left and and let on the right, so the handles all turn the opposite way now. She’s a lefty - I think it was on purpose.
HA! Well, yes, it did eventually unscrew, I will admit, but not without a heroic struggle.
The advice in this thread matches up perfectly with what I went through, but boy, can it be difficult to unscrew stuff in there. (shiftless, your mom is a better man than I am.)
It’s a bit late in the day for this now but for the sake of any others about to embark on this journey and for the sake of clarity, How Stuff Works has the dope.
Is this a single-handle (probably a big “crystal ball”) faucet or a pair of regular style handles/knobs?
Single-handle faucets are pretty easy - take off the knob with one phillips-head screw that’s probably already a bit loose), then unscrew the dome, revealing the ball mechanism, and some o-rings and springs under the ball. Replacement kits of all these parts are commonly available at hardware stores.
Standard faucets can be challenging. Once you remove the screw that holds on the handle, you may find water scale and corrosion have bonded the handle to the stem. Or the handle may just slip right off. Once it’s off, you’ll probably see two large nuts at the bottom of the stem. The top, and smaller one, is the packing or bonnet. Don’t mess with this unless the faucet has been leaking water at the handle. The larger one on the bottom holds the stem into the body of the faucet. This is the one you want to unscrew. Note: Some stems may be left-hand threaded, so if your attempts to unscrew are getting you nowhere, try turning the wrench in the other direction.
Once it’s out, take it to the hardware store to find either the right size washer, or a replacement stem. You’ll want to go to an old-style hardware store, and ideally one that’s been there for ages. I’ve noticed that new hardware stores and the “big box” places like Home Depot have severely cut back on the variety of little plumbing parts like washers that they stock.
Thanks for the link- I will print it out and tape it to the bathroom mirror while attempting the repair.
Ah, you don’t have to go that far. There should be two values under the sink (hot and cold) you turn off. No need for the main house value to be turned off.
You’re correct, but I’d assess the state of those under-the-sink valves before touching them. If they look like they’re in bad shape, I’d leave them alone and turn off the water at an earlier point in the system. I had an apartment once where I turned off the valves under the sink. One of the valves was tight, I forced just a little, and the valve broke off in my hand.
Yeah, those valves (properly called angle stops) are fragile. Just bump one with a package of toilet paper, and you’re likely to trigger dribbles from under the handle. Or the handle crumbles when you try to use it, and you find it still doesn’t actually shut off the water.
It’s often faster and safer to shut off the house main - safer as in you won’t be going back to the plumbing store to fix the angle stops after you fixed the faucet. :smack:
Not in my house. 
Ah-but one critical point was overlooked, thusfar. Whenever replacing valve washers, check the condition of the valve seat. The seat is a brass piece which mates with the valve washer, and if it is pitted, the new washer will be torn up in short order. They are removed with a wrench having three hex and three square fittings on the opposed ends, and if the fitting is frozen, you can and will tear out the center of the seat. On antique faucets, I drain the faucet barrel and apply heat to the seat with an acetylene torch first to loosen it.
If you’re successful in removing the pitted seat, there are about 30 different seat threads, some very close, as in 7/16-24 and 7/16-27-only three threads per inch difference. Head to an old style full service plumbing supply company for replacement seats. Lubricate the threads and make darn sure you’re starting them straight, as they will cross-thread without a lot of difficulty.
If you’re not able to remove the seat, you can purchase a tool which regrinds the face of the seat with a rotary file. If the pits aren’t that deep, this will make the seat good for years to come. I put some emery cloth on a dowel and soften the file marks on the redressed seat just to make things last longer. Good luck!