FIXTURES
Faucet Repair & Installation in Manassas, VA
A dripping faucet wastes water and gets worse. We repair the ones worth saving and install new fixtures cleanly, with the supply valves and seals done right so it does not weep a month later.
When to call right away
- A drip that keeps you up at night
- A handle that is stiff or spins freely
- Low flow from one faucet
- A puddle in the cabinet under the sink
Repair or replace, honestly
A faucet is one of the few plumbing fixtures where repair and replacement are genuinely close in cost, so the honest answer depends on the faucet. A quality fixture with a worn cartridge or O-ring is worth repairing, sometimes for the price of a small part. A builder-grade unit that has corroded internally, or one where parts are no longer made, is usually better replaced than nursed along. We tell you which one you have rather than defaulting to the bigger job.
The drip itself is almost always a worn cartridge, washer or seat inside the valve. It is a small repair, but a persistent one, because a faucet dripping once a second wastes a surprising amount of water over a month. Manassas water carries enough mineral content to leave scale on internal parts, which is part of why cartridges wear, and the same hardness is what our water softener service addresses at the source.
Installation that stays dry
A clean faucet installation is mostly about the connections you never see. New supply lines, properly seated shutoff valves, and a good seal at the deck are what keep a new faucet from weeping into the cabinet after a few weeks. Where the shutoff valves under the sink are old and seized, they get replaced during the install so the next repair does not require shutting off the whole house.
| Situation | Usual call |
|---|---|
| Quality faucet, worn cartridge | Repair |
| Handle loose or leaking at base | Repair, reseat or reseal |
| Corroded internals, obsolete parts | Replace |
| Updating kitchen or bath | Replace |
Kitchen and bath fixtures often get updated together during a remodel, which is where a faucet call becomes part of a larger plumbing installation. And if the shutoff under the sink will not close when you need it to, that valve is worth replacing before it becomes an emergency, the kind of small fix that prevents a bigger toilet or fixture problem down the line.
Repair the cartridge or replace the faucet
Most drips are a worn cartridge, washer or O-ring, and on a decent faucet that is a small repair worth doing. The calculation changes when the fixture is old and the finish is failing, when parts for the model are hard to find, or when the base is already corroding, because at that point a repair is money spent on a fixture near the end of its life. We tell you which situation you are in rather than reflexively selling a new faucet, and when a replacement is the sensible call, setting it on solid connections is what keeps the new one from weeping under the sink a year later.
Questions
Faucet Repair & Installation: common questions
Is a dripping faucet worth fixing or should I just live with it?
It is worth fixing, and usually a small repair. A faucet dripping once per second wastes thousands of gallons a year, and the drip tends to worsen as the worn part degrades further. Most drips are a cartridge or washer, which is an inexpensive part. Living with it also means living with the mineral staining the constant drip leaves in the basin.
Why does my new faucet already leak underneath?
Usually a connection issue rather than the faucet. A supply line not fully seated, an old shutoff valve that weeps, or a deck seal that was not set properly will all show up as cabinet moisture within weeks. A proper installation replaces the supply lines and checks the shutoffs so the only new part is not fighting old, tired connections.
Can hard water damage my faucets?
It shortens the life of the moving parts. The mineral content in local water leaves scale on cartridges, aerators and seals, which is why aerators clog and cartridges wear. Cleaning aerators helps flow, and softening the water at the source slows the wear on every fixture in the house, not just one faucet.
Need a plumber in Manassas for faucet repair & installation?
Call and describe what is happening. You will reach a plumber, not a form.