How to Install an Outdoor Faucet

In this video, This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey adds a new spigot.

Steps for Installing a Water Spigot Outside

1. Drill ¼-inch-diameter hole through house siding and rim joist. Be sure hole falls between two floor joists in basement.
2. Now enlarge the ¼-inch hole with 1⅜-inch-diameter self-feeding wood-boring bit.
3. From inside the basement, buff-clean a nearby water-supply pipe with a strip of emery cloth. Cut the cleaned pipe with a tubing cutter. Use a bucket to catch water that drains from pipe.
4. Run new copper tubing from the just-cut water-supply pipe to the 1⅜-inch-diameter faucet hole. Secure pipe to the house framing with copper bell hangers.
5. Clean and flux all pipe ends and fittings, then solder the joints with a propane torch and lead-free solder.
6. From outside, wrap plumber’s putty around the flange on the outdoor faucet.
7. Insert the faucet into the 1⅜-inch-diameter hole and press it tightly to the house.
8. Fasten the faucet by driving two 2-inch-long weather-resistant screws through the flange and into the house.
9. Remove any excess plumber’s putty that squeezes out from behind the flange.
10. From inside, solder the final plumbing connection joining the faucet to the new water-supply pipe.

Materials

• Bucket
• Plumbers putty

Tools