It is quite irritating when a leak problem occurs in the bathroom, especially in the bathtub faucet. It will certainly make you waste a huge amount of water, involuntarily. Plus, it may also cause staining in the tub since water mostly has minerals in it. It is important, therefore, to learn how to fix a leaky bathtub faucet on your own so you can easily solve the problem immediately.
Don’t worry, such a home trouble is DIY-able. You would not have a hard time fixing the leak, especially with these guidelines:
Once you discover the leak, make sure to start work immediately. Gather the tools like the screwdriver and wrench, then, prepare some washer. If you are not sure about the size of the washer in your bathtub faucet, wait until you are actually able to open the faucet so you know what kind of replacement to buy or look for.
Before starting any work, make sure to turn off the water supply. If there is a cutoff valve right in your bathtub faucet, that’s all you need to shut off. If there is none, you will have to turn the main switch off, which will cut the water supply to whole household.
Remove the handle of the bathtub faucet by loosening it. Use your screwdriver. Commonly, the screw in the handle comes in two types, the one with a flat head and the one with a Phillips head. Each type requires a specific type of screwdriver so make sure that you are prepared with what suits both.
Most faucet leaks are caused by worn and torn washer. So how to fix a leaky bathtub faucet may simply be about replacing the old washer with a new one. Make sure that you pick the right size. A bigger washer would not fit while a smaller one would cause more leaks.
When the washer has already been replaced, you must turn back the handle and tighten the screw. You need to ensure that the handle is secure but not too tight.
Turn back the water supply on and test the bathtub faucet. Check if there is water is coming out from around the handle. You will need to tighten the screw at the handle if that is the case. Also, check if the leak has stopped. If it did not, you might need to look deeper into the problem. There might be another thing that causes the leak. If you think this task is beyond your DIY power, call in for help.
