Toilet and faucet repair, for when you'd rather not.

A running toilet is usually a worn flapper, and a flapper is a cheap part you can swap yourself in about fifteen minutes. We’d tell you the same thing over the phone. A lot of what’s on this page is like that. We’re glad to handle it when you’d rather not, and some of it does need a plumber.

Toilets

A toilet that runs or refills on its own every so often has a flapper that isn’t sealing or a fill valve that’s worn out. Our post on a toilet that keeps running walks through both fixes.

Water at the base is different. That’s usually the wax ring under the toilet, and it gets worse every time you flush. If the toilet rocks at all, the seal has probably broken. Caulk around the base won’t stop it, because the water is getting out underneath. The toilet has to come up and get a new seal. While it’s up, the flange and the subfloor underneath deserve a look for rot.

For a clog, use a plunger with a flange, the kind with the extra rubber sleeve on the bottom. If a few rounds of good plunging don’t clear it, stop flushing to test it. One more flush can put the bowl over the rim.

Buying a new toilet? Measure from the wall behind it to the center of the bolts at the floor before you shop. Most are 12 inches. Some older houses have 10 or 14, and a toilet built for the wrong one won’t fit.

Faucets and sinks

A dripping faucet usually needs a new cartridge or a washer, depending on its age. Take the old cartridge to the store with you. There are dozens that look alike.

Replacing a whole faucet is simple on paper. The hard part is lying on your back in a sink cabinet trying to loosen a mounting nut that’s been rusting in place for 15 years.

Water in the cabinet under a sink usually comes from one of four places: the supply lines, the shutoff valves, the drain’s slip nuts, or the seal around the basket strainer. Our guide to a leak under the kitchen sink shows how to find which one.

Shutoff valves

This is where DIY goes wrong the most. The little valves under your sinks and behind your toilets may not have been turned since the house was built. Crank on an old multi-turn valve and the stem can snap, or the packing nut starts leaking and won’t stop.

If a shutoff won’t turn with firm hand pressure, leave it alone and shut off the main instead. When those valves get replaced, quarter-turn valves are the better choice, since they’re much less likely to seize up.

Garbage disposals

A disposal that hums without spinning is jammed. With the power off, a 1/4 inch Allen wrench in the socket on the bottom usually frees it. One that leaks from the bottom of the unit has failed inside and needs replacing. We install new ones and swap out old ones, too.

Where DIY stops

Call us when a shutoff won’t turn, when the floor around a toilet feels soft, when a supply pipe crumbles as you loosen it, or when the fix means soldering or opening a wall. Tell us what it’s doing and what you’ve already tried. Small jobs are welcome.

Outdoor spigots

Many houses have frost-free spigots, which shut the water off inside the wall where it stays warm. They only work if the hose comes off before a freeze. Leave the hose on and the water trapped inside can freeze and split the pipe in the wall. You won’t know until spring, when you turn it on and water shows up in the crawlspace or behind the siding.