A dripping faucet is easy to ignore until you add it up. A steady drip wastes a surprising amount of water over a month, and on a private well that means the pump cycling more often than it should. A leak under the sink is worse: it runs quietly into the cabinet floor and the subfloor below until the particleboard swells or the smell gives it away.
Where faucets leak, and what it usually means
- Drip from the spout with the handle off. The part that seals the water, a cartridge, a ceramic disc, or a washer and seat, is worn or scaled.
- Water around the base of the handle. An O-ring or packing around the stem has dried out or been cut by grit.
- Water pooling at the base of the spout on a kitchen swivel spout: worn spout O-rings.
- Wet cabinet floor. A supply line, a compression nut at the shut-off valve, the sprayer hose or the faucet body itself. This one needs attention first, because it's the one doing damage.
Why Powhatan faucets wear the way they do
Most homes around Powhatan draw from a private well. Well water in this part of central Virginia often carries hardness minerals, iron or fine sediment, and all three are hard on faucet internals. Scale builds on ceramic discs and cartridges so they no longer seal, and grit scores rubber seals every time the handle turns. A faucet that would last many years on treated county water can start dripping much sooner on untreated well water.
How the repair is done
The water is shut off at the fixture valves, the faucet is taken apart, and the failed part is identified rather than guessed. Where the correct cartridge or seal kit for the brand is available, the faucet is rebuilt and the seats and body are cleaned of scale. The shut-off valves under the sink are checked too, since an old valve that won't close fully turns a simple repair into a whole-house shutoff next time.
If the faucet body is cracked, badly corroded or the parts are no longer made, repair stops making sense, and faucet replacement is explained as an option before any work. For drips inside the shower, see shower and tub faucet repair.
Call for a quote on faucet repair for your leak.
How it works
- 1
Find the leak
Spout, handle, base or under the sink: the source is confirmed first.
- 2
Identify the part
Cartridge, disc, washer or O-ring matched to the faucet brand.
- 3
Rebuild and clean
Worn parts replaced, scale cleaned from seats and body.
- 4
Test
Water back on, checked for drips at every joint.