How to Fix a Dripping Faucet

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A spout drip is almost always one worn sealing part, and replacing that part is a job most homeowners can finish in under an hour with basic tools. The repair branches three ways depending on what valve sits inside your faucet, so this guide gives you one clearly labeled path instead of a single generic teardown. It assumes you already know roughly which part is failing. If you have not narrowed that down yet, the symptom-by-symptom diagnosis lives in our guide on why a faucet drips and how to diagnose the cause (021).

The fix here covers a steady drip from the spout of a standard sink faucet. Leaks that pool around the base or seep from under the handle are a different problem with a different repair, covered in our guide on why a faucet leaks at the base or handle (026). This is also a clearly safe do-it-yourself job: you shut off the supply at the valves under the sink, and there is no soldering, no gas, and no pressurized line to open.

One number worth keeping in mind before you start. According to the EPA’s WaterSense program, a faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second wastes more than 3,000 gallons a year, roughly the water for 180 showers. Fixing easily corrected leaks can trim about 10 percent off a household water bill. The annoyance is the obvious reason to fix a drip, but it is not the only one.

Shut Off the Supply Valves and Plug the Drain First

Turn off the water at the two shutoff valves under the sink before you touch anything. These are the small oval or football-shaped handles on the supply lines, one for hot and one for cold. Turn each one clockwise until it stops. Then open the faucet to release the pressure still trapped in the lines and confirm the water actually stops. If the flow does not stop, the local valves are not sealing, and you will need to close the main shutoff for the house instead.

Plug the drain next, and do not skip this step. Faucet repairs involve tiny springs, screws, retaining clips, and washers, and a sink drain swallows dropped parts instantly. Drop the stopper, or set a rag or a drain cover over the opening so nothing small can fall through. A lost retaining clip or a single spring from a ball-faucet kit can stall the whole repair until you source a replacement.

Lay a towel across the bottom of the cabinet and another over the sink basin. The towel in the basin protects the finish and gives you a light surface to lay parts on in the order you remove them. Keeping that order is what makes reassembly straightforward later, because most faucet internals only go back together one correct way.

Tools and Repair Parts to Have Ready

You need very few tools for this repair, and you likely already own most of them. The core kit is an adjustable wrench, a set of flathead and Phillips screwdrivers, hex (Allen) keys, needle-nose pliers, and a tube of plumber’s grease for the new seals. A handle puller helps if a handle is stuck on its stem, but it is rarely needed on a sink faucet.

The repair parts are the part that depends on your faucet, so match them before you start. For a compression faucet, you want a stem washer assortment (both flat and beveled profiles) and the small brass screws that hold them. For a ball faucet, buy the brand-specific repair kit, which includes the springs, rubber seats, cam, cam washer, and O-rings as a matched set. For a cartridge faucet at the washer-and-O-ring level, you want the correct O-ring sizes for that brand. Buying a manufacturer repair kit by faucet brand and model is far more reliable than guessing at generic parts, because the springs, seats, and seal dimensions are not interchangeable across makers.

A note on scope. If diagnosis points to the cartridge itself being cracked or worn beyond an O-ring refresh, that is a full cartridge replacement, which is its own procedure covered in our guide on how to replace a faucet cartridge (025). The aerator, the screen at the tip of the spout, is also a separate part with its own guide (024). This post stays on the sealing parts inside the valve.

Fixing a Compression Faucet: Washers and Valve Seats

On a compression faucet, the drip is almost always a worn rubber washer that no longer seals against its valve seat, and the fix is to replace that washer. These are the older two-handle faucets where you feel the handle tighten as it shuts off, because you are physically compressing a washer onto a metal seat. Each handle, hot and cold, has its own stem, so repair only the side that drips.

Start by prying off the decorative cap on the handle, which hides the handle screw. Remove that screw and lift the handle off. Under it is a packing nut. Loosen the packing nut with your adjustable wrench and unthread the valve stem assembly, turning it out the same direction you would open the faucet. At the bottom of the stem you will see the rubber seat washer held by a single small screw.

Remove that screw, take off the old washer, and replace it with an exact match in both diameter and profile. Flat washers seat against a broad flat surface, while beveled washers have an angled edge that presses into a cone-shaped seat. Using the wrong profile is a common reason a fresh washer still drips. While the stem is out, look at the metal valve seat down inside the faucet body. A pitted or rough seat will chew up a new washer within days. A damaged seat can be replaced with a seat wrench or smoothed with a seat-dressing tool, and if the seat is corroded past that point the faucet body may be at the end of its life. Reassemble in reverse: stem in, packing nut snug but not overtightened, handle, screw, cap.

Fixing a Ball or Cartridge Faucet: Springs, Seats, and O-Rings

On a ball or cartridge faucet, the worn parts are usually the rubber seats and springs (ball type) or the O-rings sealing the cartridge (cartridge type), and a brand-matched kit replaces them. These are single-handle washerless designs, and both come apart from the top once the handle is off, but the internal parts differ, so follow the path that matches yours.

For a ball faucet, lift the handle off, then loosen the cap with the kit’s tool or pliers wrapped in a rag to protect the finish. Lift out the cam, cam washer, and the plastic or metal ball. Underneath, set down into the faucet body, sit two small rubber seats each backed by a spring. Those tiny seats and springs are the most common failure point on a ball faucet. Pull the old ones out with needle-nose pliers, then install the new set by dropping the spring in first and pressing the rubber seat on top, narrow end down. Replace the O-rings on the faucet body too, since they are in the kit and you already have it open. Coat the new seals lightly with plumber’s grease so they slide and seat without tearing.

For a cartridge faucet where the drip traces to a worn O-ring rather than a failed cartridge, remove the handle, then remove the retaining clip or bonnet nut that holds the cartridge in place. You do not have to fully pull the cartridge to replace its external O-rings: with the clip out you can usually slide the old O-rings off and roll new, correctly sized ones on, greased. If the cartridge body itself is cracked, scored, or will not seal even with fresh O-rings, the repair has moved past this guide and into a full cartridge swap (025).

Reassembling, Restoring Water, and Testing for Drips

Reassemble the parts in the reverse order you removed them, then turn the water back on slowly. Working in reverse is why laying parts out in order earlier pays off now. Hand-thread nuts and clips first so you do not cross-thread anything, then snug them. Snug is the target, not maximum force. Overtightening a packing nut, a retaining clip, or a handle screw can distort the new seal or crack a plastic part and reintroduce the very drip you just fixed.

Open the two shutoff valves under the sink gradually rather than all at once. A slow restore lets the lines repressurize without a hammering surge against the fresh seals. Leave the faucet handle open while you do this so air can clear, then run both hot and cold for fifteen to twenty seconds. The first water may sputter as trapped air pushes out, which is normal.

Now test for the drip with the faucet fully off. Wipe the spout bone dry with a towel and watch it for a few minutes. A single late drop can just be residual water clearing the spout, so the real test is whether new water beads and falls after the spout is dry. Check around the handle and base as well: a repair done with the parts seated correctly should leave the fixture dry both while running and while off.

When the Drip Comes Back: What It Means

If the drip returns after a correct repair, the problem is usually deeper than the part you replaced, most often a damaged valve seat or a worn valve body. Retrace the job in a specific order before assuming the worst. First, confirm you matched the part exactly, since a washer of the wrong profile or an O-ring a size off will leak almost immediately. Second, check that nothing was overtightened, because a pinched or distorted seal fails fast.

If the part is right and the torque is right and it still drips, suspect the surface the seal presses against. On a compression faucet that means the metal valve seat is pitted and is cutting the new washer. On a ball or cartridge faucet it can mean the cartridge or ball is scored beyond what fresh seats and O-rings can compensate for, which points to a full cartridge replacement (025) rather than another washer-level attempt.

There is a point where a sink faucet is simply worn out. When the seat dresses smooth but the drip persists, or when corrosion has eaten into the faucet body itself, replacing parts stops being worth it and replacing the whole faucet becomes the better path, a separate job covered in our guide on how to install a new faucet (192). Knowing where the washer fix ends keeps you from buying the same part three times for a faucet that has already given out.

This article is general information, not professional advice. If you are unsure about your specific fixture or the repair does not hold, consult a licensed plumber.

Sources

  • Fix a Leak Week, US EPA WaterSense: https://www.epa.gov/watersense/fix-leak-week
  • Statistics and Facts, US EPA WaterSense: https://www.epa.gov/watersense/statistics-and-facts

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