Master Bath Redo: Post 1 - Changing a Faucet

Raise your hand if you’ve changed a faucet before. Okay – yeah, that’s a lot of you (did you know I can see you through your computer?...just kidding...uncomfortable silence). But for those of you who haven’t, this post is for you.

I bought two faucets on Ebay last May (for a steal)…and then they sat in my closet staring at me for 6 months. Why didn’t I install them right away? Because I was skeered. Yep, Ms. Go-Get-‘Um was afraid to change faucets herself.

So, over the weekend I decided to woman-up and face my fears head on. And you know what? It wasn’t that hard. Now I feel silly for waiting so long.

There are lots of great tutorials on changing faucets on Google or Bing or whatever, so feel free to refer to those. They might be written by actual plumbers and expert-types. I’ll give you a rough overview of the process, though.

Step 1

Turn off the water by turning the water valves beneath the cabinet (I believe turning them to the right closes the valve...at least that's how mine were...and I'm guessing all valves are created equal...am I sounding like a blonde or what?). It might help to put a bowl beneath the valves to catch any dripping water.

Run the sink faucet to drain any remaining water.

Step 2

Use an adjustable wrench to disconnect the hot and cold water lines from the water valves.

Step 3

Use an adjustable wrench to remove the mounting nuts on the underside of the faucet (beneath the sink). I had to lay on my back inside the cabinet to do this...not entirely comfortable, but I think it was a good ab workout.

Step 4

There’s a little screw that’s attached to the (oh geez, what’s it called)…you know the thing you lift if you want to close the drain. It’s beneath the sink. Just loosen the screw and the drain opening closing thing will be loose.

Step 5

Remove the old faucet. You may need to use a putty knife to loosen it.

(Isn't the old faucet a beauty?)

Step 6

Clean the faucet area of the sink to remove any dust or grime.

Step 7

I don’t know if this is necessary, but the Lowe’s guy told me to do it…and I chose to believe him. Make a snake out of plumber’s putty and place it on the inside edge of the faucet (see photos below).

Then put faucet in place.

Step 8

Attach new mounting nuts on the underside of the faucet. And tighten the screw on drain opening/closing thing.

Step 9

Attach hot and cold water lines to the new faucet and to the water valves (make sure the right line goes to the right water valve). And you’re done!

See?…it’s a lot of steps, but it’s pretty simple. The only hitch I ran into was that my old faucet’s hot and cold water lines were copper and completely attached to the faucet. So I couldn’t reattach them to the new faucet. I took the old faucet (with the long copper lines attached) to Lowe’s and asked what to do.

The helpful man pulled out an inexpensive and easy to use water line (see photo below), so I just used those. Easy peasy.


I hope this helps those of you who haven’t changed a faucet before. I promise, if I can do it you can do it. Seriously.