A leaky faucet nearly always comes down to one of three things: the cartridge or stem that shuts the water off, the seals and seat it closes against, and the shut-off valves under the sink. A drip from the spout is usually a worn cartridge. A drip at the base is usually a body or O-ring seal. Water in the cabinet is usually the stops or the drain, not the faucet at all. Cartridges and seals are repairable when the parts can be sourced; an unbranded or corroded fixture often cannot be, and gets replaced.
Why a faucet drips when the handle is shut off
A faucet has one job when it is closed: hold back line pressure. When it will not, a small number of parts are responsible, and which one it is decides whether you are buying a part or a fixture. These are the symptoms we are called out for, and what each one normally turns out to be.
- A drip from the spout
- The cartridge or stem is worn, or the seat it closes against is pitted. On a single-lever fixture that is one cartridge; on a two-handle fixture it is whichever side drips. This is the most repairable fault there is — provided the part can be identified.
- A drip or seep at the base of the spout
- The O-rings around the spout body have flattened, or the body seal under the escutcheon has given up. The water runs down the outside of the fixture and onto the deck, which is why people often blame the sink or the counter.
- Water in the cabinet with a dry faucet
- Usually not the fixture at all. We have been called to a leaking faucet and found the actual source was a separated waste pipe under the vanity, with corroding metal slip nuts on the trap. On another call the technician ran the water for several minutes and found no leak at the fixture — the water was coming from failing shut-off valves.
- A stiff, gritty handle, or one that turns with no effect
- Debris and mineral scale inside the valve body. On one visit the stops under the sink were stiff and pushed black debris out when they were tested; the fixture was the symptom, not the cause.
- The handle came off in your hand
- The broach on the stem or the retaining screw has failed. Sometimes that is a handle kit. More often, on a fixture old enough to do it, it is the end of the fixture.
- Weak flow at one fixture only
- The aerator, the spray head, or the stops feeding it. Aerators clog with scale and debris and are a straightforward swap — though on an obscure fixture, finding a matching aerator can take a supplier hunt.
Can faucet cartridges, seats and O-rings be rebuilt?
Often, yes, and that is always the first thing we test for. A rebuild is faster than a replacement, it keeps a fixture you chose, and it does not disturb the drain or the counter.
- Cartridges. A single-lever fixture with a clean body and a sourceable cartridge is the best repair case in plumbing. We have rebuilt a dripping bar sink fixture with new hot and cold cartridges rather than replacing it, and fitted an owner-supplied cartridge to a kitchen fixture that had no other fault.
- Stems, seats and washers. Two-handle and older fixtures often take a stem kit or a washer. The seat has to be checked as well — a new washer against a pitted seat drips again within weeks.
- O-rings and body seals. A base leak on an otherwise sound fixture is usually a seal kit.
- Aerators and spray heads. Cleaned, descaled or replaced.
- Pop-up and drain assemblies. Replaceable independently of the fixture, and frequently the real complaint.
What stops a rebuild is not usually the price of the part. It is corrosion — a fixture rusted solid to the counter cannot be worked on in place — or the fact that nobody makes the part any more.
Faucet repair parts: what can be sourced and what cannot
Brand matters more on faucets than on almost any other fixture in the house, because the repair depends entirely on a parts channel that is still open.
- Major brands with a live parts line. We standardize on Moen for replacements for exactly this reason — chrome, brushed nickel and matte black, single-lever, pull-out, pull-down and widespread. Parts stay available years after the fixture is installed.
- Off-brand fixtures. We send the fixture details to the supplier first. On a dripping three-piece fixture that came back as an off-brand unit with no parts available at all, and the honest answer was a replacement rather than a repair we could not warranty.
- Unmarked fixtures. One dripping kitchen fixture had no brand marking anywhere on it. No supply house could identify it, so no part could be ordered. That fixture had to be replaced, and no plumber could have done otherwise.
- Imported and discontinued lines. Sometimes serviceable, sometimes not. We check before we quote the work, not after.
If we cannot get a part, we say so on the visit rather than charging you to find out slowly. And where we can repair a fixture but cannot warranty the repair because of its condition, you hear that before you decide.
Why the shut-off valves under the sink are part of almost every faucet job
This is the single most consistent finding in our service records, and it surprises homeowners every time. You call about one dripping fixture; the technician closes the stops to work on it and discovers the stops themselves are finished.
- Angle stops seize in the open position and will not close, so the fixture cannot be isolated. In condominium units that has meant shutting the whole unit down, and on one job coordinating with the building to have the water shut off at a scheduled time.
- Old multi-turn stops break apart internally. On a kitchen fixture with no flow at all, the supply lines were clear and the stops were open all the way — but the valves had disintegrated inside and the debris was blocking the fixture.
- Stops weep into the cabinet quietly for years. One whole-house check turned up twelve leaking stops the homeowner had no idea about; another turned up ten, another eight.
- A failing stop is dangerous to touch. On one visit a bad valve let go when it was handled and flooded the kitchen before it could be closed.
So a faucet call here includes checking the stops at that fixture, and a walk of the rest of the house if you want it. We replace multi-turn stops with quarter-turn valves and metal braided supply lines, and we drain the system down to do it properly. See water pressure, PRVs and shut-off valves for that side of the work.
Why high water pressure ruins faucet and valve seals
Almost every house on public water in this area has a pressure reducing valve at the service entry. When that valve fails, the whole house sees street pressure, and the soft parts inside every fixture are the first things to go.
The pattern is consistent in our records. A gauge on one house read over 90 psi after the pressure reducing valve failed, and the high pressure had taken out the shut-off valves and the kitchen fixture together. Another read 100 psi where no more than 65 psi is recommended. On a third, the utility shut the neighborhood water off and turned it back on, pressure came back over 80 psi, and the house immediately started making a squeaking noise it had never made before.
That is why a gauge goes on the house as part of a faucet call. Replacing a dripping fixture in a house running at street pressure is treating a symptom — the next fixture, and the next stop, is already failing.
Kitchen, bathroom, shower or outdoor: which faucet repair is it?
These are four genuinely different jobs. The parts differ, the access differs, and so does what we find when we get there.
| Where it is | What usually fails | What the job involves |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen sink | Spray heads that will not seat, dripping bases, dead touchless sensors, stops broken apart internally | Usually the fixture plus the hot, cold and dishwasher stops, sometimes the trap and tailpiece. See kitchen faucet repair. |
| Bathroom sink | Internal leaks into the cabinet, broken pop-up assemblies, seized angle stops, off-brand widespread sets | The fixture, the pop-up, the trap dropped and reset, and the stops. See bathroom faucet repair. |
| Shower or tub | A seized cartridge in an in-wall valve body, a failed diverter, scale in the valve | Cartridge first, valve body if the cartridge will not move — and wall or tile access. See shower faucet and valve repair. |
| Outside hose bib | Freeze damage, stem leaks, failed vacuum breakers, feed valves nobody can reach | Replacement with backflow protection, and often opening a wall or ceiling. See outdoor faucet and hose bib replacement. |
If the sink itself is the problem — loose in the counter, cracked, or draining badly — that is sink repair and installation rather than a fixture call.
What a faucet repair or replacement visit involves
- Confirm the symptom at the fixture. Run it hot and cold, check the spout, the base, the handle and the aerator, and look for water where it should not be.
- Gauge the incoming water pressure. Standard on our plumbing calls. It explains a large share of the failures we are called out for.
- Test the stops. We close and open the hot and cold valves under the fixture before anything else, because that is where the job frequently changes.
- Identify the fixture and check parts availability with the supply house before recommending a repair.
- Inspect the drain side. Trap, tailpiece and pop-up, since a faucet swap often needs the trap dropped and reset anyway.
- Show you what was found and what the options are — including leaving something alone for now, where that is reasonable.
- Drain the system down where valve or copper work is part of the repair, and refill and check for leaks before we leave.
Do you need a permit for faucet replacement in Virginia?
Swapping a fixture on existing, sound stops does not require a permit. Once the work goes into the supply piping — new shut-off valves, replacing sections of copper, a new pressure reducing valve, a hose bib and backflow device — it does, and we pull and process that permit ourselves.
Permitted work is performed to the Virginia building code and closed out with a county final inspection. Permit and processing fees are written into the contract, and on permitted work we hold back the final portion of payment until the inspection passes. Sam & Sons Services has held a Virginia DPOR contractor license, number 2705070610, since 1999.
What faucet repair and replacement costs, and how it is priced
We do not quote faucet work by phone and we do not publish numbers, because two fixtures that look identical can be different jobs. One has sound quarter-turn stops beneath it; the next has seized angle stops, a corroded trap, a fixture rusted to the counter and a failed pressure reducing valve feeding the whole house.
An estimator comes to the property, looks at the actual installation, and puts a price in writing before any work starts. If the visit turns up more than you called about — and on faucet calls it regularly does — you get the choice, in writing, before we touch it.