How to Repair a Leaky Kitchen Faucet

Pro Tip: Richard Trethewey, plumbing and heating expert on Ask This Old House, notes that often the hardest part of the whole job is getting the handle off. The screw holding it in place is typically brass, so it can strip easily — make a clean bite with your screwdriver, push down, and turn counterclockwise. If the handle won’t budge, a handle puller tool makes short work of it.

What Drives Costs: If your faucet uses a modern cartridge-style valve — common in faucets made in the last twenty years — the fix is typically just swapping out a disposable cartridge unit, which keeps costs low. Older faucets with worn O-rings can sometimes be repaired by replacing just the rings, but as Richard Trethewey points out on Ask This Old House, the smarter approach is often to change the whole assembly, since scored O-rings and stiff valve stems from previous repairs can make a piecemeal fix unreliable.

In this video, This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey helps a homeowner repair her leaky kitchen faucet.

Pro Tip: When dealing with a single-handled cartridge faucet, Richard Trethewey advises: “Look at the faucet and try to understand how it was put together, then go in reverse.” This approach applies to any faucet repair — understanding the assembly order makes disassembly and reassembly straightforward.

Steps:

1. Close the hot- and cold-water shutoff valves under the kitchen sink.

2. Place a rag over the sink drain to catch any dropped parts.

3. Use a pocketknife to pry off the small index cover from the side of the faucet to reveal the hex-head screw.

4. Loosen the screw with the hex-key wrench and pull off the faucet handle.

5. Use the spanner wrench that came with the faucet to loosen and remove top cap assembly.

6. Pull straight up to remove the stainless-steel ball from the faucet body.

7. Use a pocketknife to extract the rubber seats and springs from inside the faucet.

8. Slip a new spring and rubber seat onto the tip of a pencil and lower it down into the faucet. Repeat to install the remaining seat and spring.

9. Reinstall the stainless-steel ball, making sure to align its keyway with the corresponding tab inside the faucet body.

10. On top of the stainless-steel ball install a new rubber gasket and cam cap. Align the keyway on the cap with the corresponding slot to ensure proper alignment.

11. Hand-tighten the top cap assembly back onto the faucet.

12. Open the two shutoff valves under the sink.

13. Use the spanner wrench to tighten the nut to provide the proper tension against the stainless-steel ball.

14. Reinstall the faucet handle, tighten the hex-head screw and then press on the index cover.

15. If your faucet doesn’t have a stainless-steel ball, it’s likely a ceramic-cartridge faucet. To repair the leak, simply remove the handle, pull out the ceramic cartridge and replace it with a new cartridge.