Friday night, we had some friends over for far too much food: tenderloin fillets (worcestershire, Tony’s, and cracked pepper), sauteed shrimp (oil and Tony’s), sauteed mushrooms (butter, worcestershire, white wine, season salt), roasted garlic potatoes (oil, one clove garlic, Tony’s), and roasted asparagus (oil, salt, pepper). In celebration of the beginning of spring break and the season finale of Battlestar Galactica, I decided to cook far too much food for four people.
Turned out it was just the right amount. Go figure.
Anyway, while I was peeling the shrimp in the sink, I felt a drip on my shoe and just thought it was from my hands. Then I felt it again. And again. I opened the cabinets under the sink and found a pool of water there, so I stuck a pan under the steady drip, went back to peeling shrimp, and made a mental note to replace the leaky faucet on Saturday.
Now, I’ve never replaced a faucet or done any kind of plumbing work, but I’ve found that, since we bought our house, some dormant handy-man gene in me has awakened and there are these things that, for some reason, I just know how to do. Can I build a pergola? Yup. Can I lay tile? Yup. Can I install a ceiling fan? Easy. Can I fix a broken patio umbrella? Yup. Can I change out light switches? Sure.
Typical guy stuff, I suppose.
So I thought I’d share some of this innate knowledge, culled no doubt from the collective unconscious, with both my readers. Should you ever find yourself needing to install a kitchen sink faucet, these simple steps should serve you well.
Step 1: Go to Lowe’s (or Home Depot or whatever).
Step 2: Wander the aisles until you get to the faucet section. Look at the various kinds. Wonder how/why someone would pay $300 for a kitchen faucet.
Step 3: Decide on the nice-looking $78 Peerless faucet with pull-out spray nozzle. It even says “Three easy steps” on the box.
Step 4: Take it to the register. Stand in line behind the two snowboard kids buying something with spare change.
Step 5: Be patient when, after counting out a few dollars-worth of pennies and dimes, they come up short and beg the cashier for some spare change.
Step 6: When they’re gone, place the new faucet on the counter. When the cashier rings it up, pay no attention. Pull out your credit card and swipe it.
Step 7: Just before you accept the transaction, notice that the faucet is $128.
Step 8: Cancel the transaction and apologize to the cashier for grabbing the wrong item.
Step 9: Wander back to the faucet aisle. Find the faucet you intended to get. Check the model number against the price on the shelf.
Step 10: Check again.
Step 11: Begin walking back to the cash registers, but go back and check one last time that this is, in fact, the item you want.
Step 12: Go back to the register and purchase the faucet.
Step 13: Back home, you’ll need to remove the old faucet. This is simple. Most faucets are held in by one or two bolts, depending on what kind of sink you have.
Step 14: Remove everything from beneath the sink.
Step 15: There should be two valves beneath the sink for turning off the water to the faucet. Turn them both off. Lefty-loose-y, righty-tight-y. It is likely that these valves will be stuck. Grab a towel or oven mit to protect your hand as you strain to close the valve.
Step 16: Confirm that the water is shut off by turning on the faucet. No water should come out. If it does, maybe you turned the wrong way.
Step 17: Once the water is off, it’s time to go about removing the old faucet! Grab a pair of robo-grip pliers, a flashlight, and wiggle up under the sink to see what’s holding the faucet on.
Step 18: Once you’ve identified the nut, grab one with the robo-grip and try to move it. Notice that there’s only about an inch of play for you to move the nut.
Step 19: Remember that you’ve heard people say that doing all of this is easy, but that there’s not much room back there.
Step 20: Get out from under the sink and go grab a bunch of open-faced wrenches of various sizes.
Step 21: Wiggle back up under the sink with the wrenches on your belly. Keep trying them until you find one that kind of fits.
Step 22: Loosen the nut. If it is rusted and won’t budge, try harder.
Step 23: Take a break.
Step 24: Wiggle back under the sink and try to move the nut again.
Step 25: Curse. A lot.
Step 26: Spray the nut with WD-40. Make sure that you are not on your back underneath the area you’re spraying. This is difficult.
Step 27: Realize that you need a deep socket to break this nut loose.
Step 28: Go through your tools, only to find that you don’t have any deep sockets of the right size.
Step 29: Go to a neighbor’s house to get the sockets.
Step 30: Curse privately when he doesn’t have any, either.
Step 31: Drive back to Lowe’s. Wander the aisles until you get to the socket section.
Step 32: Curse privately when your options are to buy the sockets you need either in a set for $130 or individually for $7 apiece.
Step 33: Buy 4 sockets—2 metric, 2 English—a breaker, and an extension, for far more money than you wanted to spend.
Step 34: Return home. Grab the English sockets, the breaker, and the extension and wiggle back up under the sink.
Step 35: Find the right socket. Attach the extension and the breaker. Try to move the bolt.
Step 36: Toss your legs around in the air when the nut doesn’t move.
Step 37: Try making different sounds while you try to break the nut loose.
Step 38: Settle on a kind of high-pitched squeal.
Step 39: Rejoice when the nut breaks loose! Curse loudly when large clumps of rust land in your face. Note that you have been working on this for 2 hours now.
Step 40: Replace the breaker with a proper ratchet and start loosening the nut.
Step 41: Start to wonder why the nut doesn’t seem to be getting any looser even though you’ve been turning it for quite a while now.
Step 42: Curse quietly when you realize that the nut has rusted to the washer and that you’ve been spinning the nut, washer, and bolt all this time.
Step 43: Pace around the kitchen while you try to figure out how to break the nut, bolt, and washer free from one another.
Step 44: Decide to cut through the bolt. Get a hacksaw.
Step 45: Curse silently when you realize you can’t fit the hacksaw in the small space between the bolt and the edge of the countertop.
Step 46: Remove the blade from the saw and decide to just hold it in your hand.
Step 47: Curse silently when you realize that even like this you can’t get enough pressure on the saw blade to make a difference.
Step 48: Decide to make an assault on the faucet from the top.
Step 49: Loosen the plastic nut holding the sprayer on.
Step 50: Curse silently when water drips on your face.
Step 51: Scooch out from underneath the sink and try to wiggle the faucet loose.
Step 52: Curse silently when it doesn’t move much.
Step 53: Decide to use the hacksaw to cut through the faucet, peel back one side of it, and get at the bolt.
Step 54: Saw furiously on one side of the faucet.
Step 55: Try to wrap your brain around how the same problems that affect the underside of the faucet affect the top. Do your best to wedge a flathead screwdriver underneath.
Steps 56-75: Continue trying to lever up the main part of the faucet.
Step 76: Be appalled as large chunks of rust fall out.
Step 77: Consider drilling through the washer in an attempt to weaken it.
Step 78: Curse silently as the drill bit only turns the washer/bolt/nut instead of boring through it.
Step 79: Note that you’ve been at this for nearly 4 hours.
Step 80: Work at prying up the various levels of the faucet base until you can get at the bolt head.
Step 81: Try to drill through the bolt.
Step 82: Curse silently as you watch the whole rusted thing spin around.
Step 83-90: Try to get a hacksaw up under the bolt head.
Step 91-95: Curse silently when you notice that you’ve cut a little into the sink.
Step 96: Have an epiphany. If you can drill around the bold head, you might be able to hammer the head through from the top.
Step 97: Rejoice when, after drilling a couple of holes around the bolt head, the whole thing falls in.
Step 98: Remove the old faucet.
Step 99: Install the new faucet.
Step 100: Remark to your wife that this installation should have taken about 20 minutes.
Step 101: Once the new faucet is in place and the bolts holding it in place are tightened, connect the feed lines.
Step 102: Laugh uncontrollably when you find that the feed lines are 1″ too short to connect to the new faucet.
Step 103: Go back to Lowe’s. Wander around until you get to the plumbing aisle.
Step 104: Wonder whether you should purchase new feed lines for $3 or try to figure out some way to couple what you have to the new faucet.
Step 105: Decide on the new lines.
Step 106: Drive home.
Step 107: Remove the old lines. Look at the new lines. Realize that the new lines have a gasket at their head. Realize that the new lines have a sticker that you’ll need to remove before you can pull the gasket down where it needs to be.
Step 108: Scratch furiously to remove the sticker and the adhesive. Step 109: Install the new lines.
Step 110: Turn on the valves from step 15-17.
Step 111: Check the faucet.
Step 112: Wash the dishes that have been in the sink this entire time.
Step 113: Rejoice.
I admire your tenacity. For me, the path of least resistance is to call my dad to “help.” He lives about three miles away, is very handy, and doesn’t work well with others so tends to just take over. Even if I intended to do this project by myself, I’m sure I would have been on the phone to him by Step 28.
I need to replace a bathroom faucet. I don’t know whether this post inspires me or convinces me to call dad from the begining.
Congratulations!
Heh. I’m not really sure you can call this “tenacity.” OCD is more like it. And really, there’s not a lot to this. As my easy-to-follow instructions make clear, the only real problems you might encounter are with the old faucet.
My experience is that something of the sort always happens. I’m kind of handy, but I don’t even try many things involving plumbing. You’re a better man than I am.
One rule that I adhere to strictly (!!!!): Never start such a project at night, especially not late at night. The reason is simply that, if you screw up, any plumber who is willing to come to you is going to own your house by the time it is over.
Good work!
I felt fully confident that when you got done you were going to discover that it still leaked. But it didn’t! Congrats!
Oh, ye of little faith!
Happy anniversary!!!
You know, I’ll fiddle with plumbing. What’s the worst that can happen to you? (Your body, I mean). You get wet. I’m most impressed with this bit: “Can I change out light switches?” With that you risk electrocution, so I pass on that stuff, even though electricians want $75/hour. It may be that I don’t really trust the labeling on my circuit breakers.
See, Linkmeister, that’s why you give someone a broom and say “If I light up, you hit me HARD with the wood end of this.”
I don’t have any trouble with electrical stuff; turn off the breaker, make sure everything’s off, and change the thing out. The only problem is that for a few days afterward I’m always convinced that the house is going to burn down while we’re away.
As for getting wet…Shelley asked me to install an under-the-sink water filter, so when I went to Lowe’s earlier today to buy tile and tile accessories, I picked one up. The installation? Replace “faucet” in this post with “filter.”
Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but drilling into a cement wall, and then into brick, underneath a sink to mount the stupid thing ain’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
it was right after i had cried for help and told my daughters girlfriend to “get the saw’s-all! I’m stuck!” for me it was a 27″ sink base with a damn center style. Thank god i saw the screws and was able from my stuck position to unscrew them. Then the daughter’s g.f. came with a nice finishing saw and cut the damn style at the top and i smacked it loose. The result…i was free!. Yes i did all the swearing, mostly at the asshole who installed this for me. an then men in general. I had an incompetant guy who thought i knew nothing about installing a faucet(which was generally true) however i knew more than this dude. We ended up realizing which you missed, and would have made your life much easier, is that there is a wrench tool that comes with the faucet that helps you tighten the nut on the new faucet. and yes installing the new faucet is cake compare to the first time you ever had to remove a shitty faucet.
Well i do feel rather pleased with my accomplishment. and now i realize as i stare at the new beauty that my sink and my c/top are both horrendous! pardon my spelling. (too lazy to spell check) will grimace later. any way it was a grerat excuse not to go to work today.
Interesting thing happened to me today . . . I tried to replace a kithcen faucet. At some point, in complete and utter disgust, I googled to find a way to remove an old kitchen faucet. Your instruction list is my “home improvement day” in a nutshell – just replace Lowe’s with Home Depot. Thank you, the drill thing did work! For Melissa: I had the fancy under the sink wrench. That encompassed another trip to the store and further wasted dollars. Lastly, rust in the eye is definitely a bad thing, a very bad thing.
my husband (for obvious reasons..um…STILL UNDER SINK!!) cannot type this himself..Sooo.. here I am. He’s wet (hahaha) , its thundering out, pouring out (bad news for trips to his shed for more tools), it’s late (wasn’t when he started), we now have a big hole underneath the sink (Don’t Ask!), No hot water (but he looks at it as HALF done…I don’t), and we are no longer speaking LOL. Well…What we learned?…My husband is NOT a plumber and tomorrow is another day! WISH US LUCK..tomorrow step #114
Hi… you forgot one bit… it’s where a speck of rust or dried-up plumbers putty drops in your eye and you sit up in shock, forgetting that you are lying on your back in a very cramped space under the sink, and crack your head…
If you need me, I’m under the bathroom sink, trying for the 85th time to remove a stuck faucet nut. WD40 not working yet!
I really appreciate your tenacity. It is remarkable to make the path so great and it need a long time and much care.
I need to replace a kitchen faucet. I don’t know whether this post inspires me or convinces me to do it by myself.
Congratulations!
You caught my attention with the checkout line problem just like I had at Lowe’s! I was ready to go the route of a saw, but I was thinking maybe a Dremel. That would require borrowing from my father-in-law, which was my stroke of luck. I called him for “advice” and he decided to come over and attempt to wrench off those faucet nuts. I started researching the Dremel idea on the internet while he was working and found I am not alone! Luckily, he was successful with a pair a vice grips and much patience (and pain from the kitchen cabinets and a small opening to under the sink). After he left, the new installation went very fast, even with a baby underfoot and “helping.” Except for trying to decipher the picture-only instructions. If they decided these things to go easily, plumbers would be out of business.
Facing the same problems now. Bought an array of tools that I am now returning to Home Depot and Lowes (two separate excursions in search of advice). I am going to attack again today with a pair of pliers and a lot of hope. Wish me luck. No water in the kitchen for 2 weeks now.
This was almost my EXACT experience. I *was* able to drill through the head of the bolt. And the new faucet took about 17 minutes to put in..
next time I’m replacing the whole sink
Scott – this site/blog is awesome and your story – funneeee! And to the rest of you who followed with additional advice – THANK YOU!!! My two hour kitchen faucet change turned into a two-day major life event. But, I lived to tell (!) because of you all.
I’ve had to become a do-it-yourself-ette because of the economy. Bought a fabulous kitchen faucet on sale, and I figure I’m reasonably intelligent, so….
What a frustrating thing if you’re not a seasoned plumber and know the little tricks. Without you guys I would have had to call a plumber in in the middle of my efforts if I hadn’t shot the darn thing right out of the sink beforehand!
Here’s what I learned and I hope this helps another (and guys, please don’t be offended – girls just work differently). (AND thank God for the new dog pillow to bring comfort while contorting!) Bear in mind, I didn’t mind ruining parts, as I was replacing the faucet. This is not “replacement” help.
Got the top, handle and “C-ring” off just fine. Getting the cartridge out was hard. You don’t need the commercially produced plastic gadget to turn it one way, then the other. The fella above was spot on about the plastic inside bonding to the cartridge. I got a good little flathead screw driver and a hammer to do the trick. Just pound the screwdriver between the plastic and the metal of the cartridge. The plastic may come out in little pieces. If so, fine. Then, pull the cartridge up and out. (I wiggled it out.)
Got all the hoses unhooked under the sink. (yes, turned the water off first) I got the metal nuts to the hot/cold unscrewed easily by hand. Then came trying to get the freakin’ plastic nuts off immediately under the sink. This was almost the deal breaker. Finally the advice above about just getting the top of the faucet (above) the sink off can help (why did I take it apart and the cartridge out…dunno. I’m a dork.) So, I banged the center around a little with my hammer to loosen. Pulled the cartridge assembly out. With my hammder and screw driver, I got under the faucet base and with the back of the hammer bent both sides up. Removed all the putty. I was then able to pull the base up and off. Got my screw driver under the metal pieces that are on the top side of the sink, where the plastic nuts are immediately below. I bent the sides of those metal pieces up. Banged each one around and loosed the gunk around the metal piece going thru the sink, down. I got some wiggle going so I know those were loose. Now just the friggin plastic nuts. I went back under the sink, YES, with screw driver and hammer in hand and gently pounded just behind the wings on the nut with the screw driver, going “loosey left,” and viola! It moved!!! WHOHOO! This worked on both and I got both of the plastic nuts off. I have just basic tools and seem to be able to do most things. All I can say is that if I hadn’t found this site I would have thrown in the towel. Besides the frustration, huge amount of time expended and swearing like a sailor, I feel good. I did it – and that feels GOOD. Thank you! <3
Funny you should point this one out again. I forgot about it when (about a year ago) I changed a faucet for my mother.
I got to about step 38 when I decided I was tired of ripping the skin off my back by angling into the tight spot under the sink, and just started removing the sink hold down clips. I removed the entire sink, flipped it over in the floor and then broke the faucet off with much less cursing.
I’m easily frustrated.
ha ha well I am thinking maybe I should just call the plumber again, the thing is he had taken the old faucet out the day and then he put it back in, I wish he had just left it out.
I had my fun removing a faucet today. The bolt, washer, everything was rotating when I would turn the wrench.
To remedy the situation, I used a dremel and grinded 2 sides of the threaded end of the bolt until a flat surface was created on each side. then i used a smaller wrench to hold the bolt steady while I turned the nut. Hopefully that helps someone.
Also, I recommend using Liquid Wrench to penetrate rusted nuts and bolts. It is a much more effective product than WD-40 for this purpose.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I never would have thought to use a drill to break through the rust! I found your blog right after I began the project and ran into several locked and rusted fittings. I just got them out in much less time than I expected, and I owe it to you.
You forgot 114. Have a beer.
I’ve read this a dozen times in the past 12 hours, and I laugh every time, because I spent entirely too long (and three trips to the hardware store) on something similar. It started out as fixing a leaky faucet… I now have a new faucet. So fun.
My 19-year old son called just a few minutes ago — he’s replacing a faucet for his grandparents (my parents) who are in their 80′s. He’s been working for 2 hours and is at step 36. Should I (a)call him back and encourage him to try to break the plastic washers and tell him he’s almost done (b)call him back and tell him I’ll pay for the plumber (c) call him back and tell him he only has 77 steps left and we won’t expect him home before midnight?
OMG I so relate! thanks for the good laugh this morning. Now back to step 40.
I am not a Plummer, but after purchasing a home, I started to do my own pluming. There are several special tools to use when replacing a faucet. The main tool that I use is a kind of pipe wrench. The head of the wrench can be rotated 180 degrees. The mouth of the wrench is spring-loaded. The shaft is long and round. At the bottom, there is a round piece of metal that can be moved from one side to the other without removing the wrench. (This gives you leverage) It is great for working in small spaces. You use it kind of like a ratchet action. Once it is on the nut… you rotate it back and forward until the nut is loose. You can get them from Lowes or Home Depot for just under $20. It is well worth it if you have to replace a faucet anywhere! Good luck all!
Mario
OMG…I know this is an old post…But it’s so true!!! LOL…I laughed so hard while reading this that I had tears in my eyes. Thank you
I ended up reading the post to my husband while he was working on the kitchen sink (small house, thus the computer is in the kitchen-yes, in the kitchen). We were at step 25 during the process of reading it. Took us two hours to get the plastic bolts off. Thank you to the person who mentioned the hammer and the screw driver, we used the chisel method and it worked like a charm!
BEST ADVICE I’VE EVER READ!!!
ESPECIALLY THE PART TO USE SOCKET, BREAKER, AND EXTENSION INSTEAD OF WRENCH, AND GO AROUND THE BOLT INSTEAD OF DIRECTLY AT IT!
THANKS SO MUCH
oh my, now I am truly prepared to tackle the 15 yr old stuck faucet that had well water minerals fusing it together- I can’t wait! Lowes sold me another product – “Blaster” a penetrating catalyst instead of lubricant, as I told them I was expecting trouble… Sure Hope I can finish in less than 113 steps!
Great read! I felt great satisfaction when I replaced my kitchen faucets, with no knowledge of plumbing, as a 43 year old stay-at-home mom. I did not have the problem removing the old sink as my home was only 3 years old (and yes, faucet leaking already). Everything went swimmingly, plumbers putty and all. I was all done, and realized that the single handled faucet was working in the opposite direction!!! Instead of ‘down’ for off, it was ‘up’ for off. I had put the handle in backwards….there was no instruction about which way to put it in. I remembered that a friend of mine had a faucet that worked in this opposite direction. They were used to it, but any visitor washing their hands, would bang the faucet ‘off’ and instead get a shower from it being turned on full blast. I went to see her faucet and realized that it was the exact same Price Pfister model! She said she had the same one in her old house and it worked the same way!! So I felt better, that professional house builders had made the same mistake as me. Then I proceeded to remove the whole thing, remove my plumbers putty and redo the thing the opposite way! I did start in the morning,and was still finished that same day….even with the hiccup, I did feel a huge sense of accomplishment.
Thank you for posting this! I actually was replacing my kitchen faucet with a hardly used faucet we removed from our laundry room when we bought the house so I had to remove two and chose to remove the replacement one first and I must say it was a piece of cake, so I expected the broken one in the kutchen to also be so simple and it is still stuck on my sink. I did get a lot of enjoyment reading your post and wanted to add that yes getting rust in your eye is no fun. I believe I will be removing my contacts and puttin on glasses to remedy this hopefully.
Um, this was a great read. It feels like I wrote it…luckily my neighbor had a socket thing but our old faucet is still there. We cannot get it out. Six hours later…I can’t get a drill bit through the thing…slowly but surely breaking the faucet in to smaller pieces but the one rusty bolt/nut/washer is holding on tight…son of a gun.
Holy cow! My arms are jello-ey from cranking at the rusted nuts on the old faucet. Just got it budge and realized all I was doing was spinning the faucet around! Water lines were so corroded they snapped right off – rather satisfyingly I might add. I too cursed the stupid builder (even though our house is 10 years old. I think I’ll go have that beer that Kari suggested and tackle it when I get truly tired of washing dishes in the utility sink.
Thanks so much for the tip about getting the plastic nuts off! I was able to loosen one of them using the hammer/screwdriver method. On the second one, the plastic tabs broke off, but I was able to use my screwdriver like a chisel, and I chiseled through the plastic till it broke. Even then it was hard to pry off! 3 hours removing the old faucet and 45 minutes to install the new one!
After spending a couple of hours trying to remove MY old kitchen faucet, not counting all the breathers I took when I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided to let the WD40 soak in overnight. Then looking to see if anyone had a clue for me, I found your ‘I Know What I Know”. I have to thank you, because as I read steps 1-113, I laughed SO hard as you described almost every thing I had experienced tonight. Tomorrow when I try again, it will be with a giggle in my heart.
Going through this same experience right now. Not sure how to remove the old faucet – but got spinning around very well. (grrrr.) Not talented with a drill or dremel – wouldn’t know how to go about that… (though I do own both). For now, taking a break and dealing with it later.
I’m currently on step 25. Kill me now. I’m ready to sell the house, old faucet and all. thanks for the laugh, it stopped the crying fit.
Thank you so much for this post. The first time I read your post out loud to my boyfriend, he didnt hear me … he was cursing too loudly, while under the sink.
As I continuous repeated it , little bits and pieces finally started seeping into his conscious brain. He actually cracked a smile and slowly began to voice something related to a laugh. Thank God! He followed your example and drilled out the mounting bolts. It wasn’t completely successful, as there was still something holding the main shaft in the center hole. He ran down to Lowes, for the second time, to get a hack saw. He was able to pull up on the faucet and saw the offending element from above the sink. It worked! Yea!
He was able to get the new faucet installed and ready before we needed to cook dinner. Yea again! We were able to save many hours of cursing and banging, thanks to your post. It is odd all the offical posts act as if there is NOTHING to remove an old faucet. They give it one step , when it clearly deserves 113 steps. Haha, The joke is now on them. Thank you