Hesitant Handyman Repairs - Swapping the Kitchen Faucet

Music: “The Plumbers Rag” (music by audionautix.com) “Sleepytime for Alton” (Music by Amanda Laine)

A Brief History of the Home

My mom lives in my grandparent’s old house. It’s a manufactured home on a foundation with owned land and an attached garage. My grandfather bought it to move closer in to town after his heart attack. They lived near Hebo previously, which the majority of you probably aren’t familiar with, and that’s okay. It’s an unincorporated community located in Tillamook County, and some of you might recognize Tillamook County as home of Tillamook, Oregon, which is known for Tillamook Cheese, which in my opinion is the greatest cheese known to man. Sorry, Wisconsin. Don’t come at me trying to argue the point unless you’ve actually been to the Tillamook Factory (which is recently remodeled and I really need to go check out again. But that’s completely unrelated to anything going on here.)

The move happened when I was younger, and it needed to happen. For one, Hebo is almost an hour and a half from where I live, which is really on the outskirts of what you’d call the Portland Metro Area. At the time cell phones weren’t as big of a thing as they are now, but I can pretty much guarantee you that there’s little, if any, reception out at their old property. The house had stairs everywhere, not just the two flights inside of the house, but garden terraces everywhere, plus trails between the house and their motor home parking pad on their just-under-an-acre heavily wooded property. They built the home out there, but it was less than ideal conditions for an elderly couple, and the heart attack brought that to the forefront. It wasn’t too long after the move that he passed away.

Required maintenance

So as y’all know, I wasn’t especially handy before owning a home myself–since owning one, I’ve had to learn quite a bit, and that was part of my mission with this blog–having a place to share what I’ve worked on and how I did things, and I’m first to admit that I’m still learning. Shortly after I replaced the kitchen faucet in our house, I found out that my mother’s was broken–the water ran through it fine, however the faucet/handle assembly was loose and dangling. She needed a new one. I accompanied her to the store to purchase one, wound up purchasing the wrong one, but thankfully Moen was willing to swap out what I’d purchased with the correct model and let me ship the one we’d bought back to them.

How I Replaced It

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Required Materials

• New Faucet (The one we installed was the three hole version of this one available at The Home Depot. I cannot find the exact model currently, however closest I can find would be this one. Ultimately, depending on what type of sink you’re replacing in will determine what type of faucet you buy, but the installation process will be pretty similar either way.)
• New Supply Lines (This is potentially optional depending on when yours were last replaced–in an instance where I didn’t replace it myself, I’ll just go ahead and do it to be safe. They’re not especially expensive)

Required Tools

• Adjustable Wrench
• Basin Wrench (Check with your friends to see if someone owns one before you buy one–I don’t own one myself and this isn’t a tool you’ll use very often since the specific purpose for which it was created is reaching behind the sink bowl to loosen basin nuts. Since I have a friend who has one, I use his. If you don’t have a friend who already owns one, go buy one and then offer to loan it out to friends who need one. You’ll be a hero to them!)

The Process

Step one – Shut off the water

Disconnecting supply lines if you’ve not actually turned off the water to the fixture can get really messy. Typically with sinks there’s a shutoff in the cabinet; if you don’t have one, you may be looking at shutting it off to the whole house. Either case, I cannot stress this enough–Shut it off first so you don’t have to scream and holler to someone else to shut it off while you’re getting blasted in the face like you’re on a sitcom where someone didn’t shut it off. Or like the people on “My First Flip.”

Step two – Disconnect the supply lines

I usually will disconnect them from the bottom (closest end to the water shutoff) because the water will stay in the line until I release it by opening the spigot on the faucet. Then all I have to do is drop the ends in a bowl or bucket, open the spigot, and let the water flow out. The amount of water left over in the hoses typically isn’t enough to ruin your day like if you forgot to do step one, but it’s nice to keep the mess to a minimum.

Step three – Remove the old faucet

Once you’ve disconnected the supply lines, this is typically a combination of removing the basin nuts with the basin wrench and potentially removing the hose guide for the side sprayer if you’re working on a four hole configuration. You may also need to disconnect the side sprayer (similar to the supply lines, make sure you drop the open end in a bowl and release any water that might still have been trapped in the line) then lift everything out of the sink.

Step four – Install the new faucet

Really, all this is generally going to be is reversing the steps you just took to remove the old faucet to install the new one. Drop the new faucet into the sink holes, attach the basin nuts/sprayer hose guides, drop the sprayer into position and connect it, then connect your supply lines.

Step five – Test it all out

In the video, we had a severe case of lost footage. I promise you, I did actually test to make sure nothing was leaking, but bottom line turn on the water, look for leaks at any hose connections and tighten as necessary. Make sure that your faucet and sprayer actually work properly. Once you’ve done this and confirmed you’re not leaking where you shouldn’t be, you should be good to go!

Disclaimer

Most DIY projects involve risk of some sort. Your tools, materials, and skills will vary, as will the conditions at your project site. The Hesitant Handyman has made every effort to be complete and accurate in the instructions provided on this content. The Hesitant Handyman will not assume any responsibility or liability for damages or losses sustained or incurred in the course of your project or in the use of the item you create. Always follow the manufacturer’s operating instructions in the use of tools, installation instructions for your fixtures, check and follow your local building codes, and observe all commonly accepted safety precautions.