Fixture Repair in Lebanon, PA

A faucet that drips once per second loses roughly 3,000 gallons of water per year. That is not a trivial number on a water bill, but the bigger concern is where that water goes. A kitchen faucet that drips at the base soaks into the cabinet floor. A bathroom faucet that weeps at the handle corrodes the surrounding deck and the supply connections underneath. A tub or shower that drips slowly corrodes the valve body and, in tile surrounds, works moisture behind the tile wall.

The fix — a new cartridge, a seat washer, or an O-ring — is usually straightforward and inexpensive relative to the damage a continued drip causes. The longer it runs, the worse the math gets.

The shutoff valve under your kitchen sink, behind the toilet, and at the base of the water heater cold supply is there for one purpose: to stop water quickly when you need to. A valve that has not been exercised in years develops mineral deposits and corrosion that can freeze the stem in the open position. When you finally turn it to shut off a drip or replace a supply line, the valve leaks around the packing nut or will not close fully.

The answer is not to leave a seized valve in place — it is a liability waiting for a plumbing emergency. We replace aged or failed shutoff valves with quality ball valves that operate smoothly for years and actually close when you need them to. This is one of the least dramatic and most useful plumbing upgrades in an older home.

The braided steel supply lines connecting shutoff valves to faucets and toilets have a finite life. Most manufacturers rate them at 5 to 8 years, but they often stay in service far longer. When a supply line fails — and they can fail quickly and completely — the volume of water released before someone notices is significant. A failed supply line under a sink in an unoccupied house can put hundreds of gallons on the floor in a few hours.

If your supply lines are original to a renovation or installation more than ten years ago, replacing them proactively is inexpensive insurance. We replace supply lines as part of any fixture repair or shutoff valve work and check them whenever we are under a sink for any reason.

Lebanon County's hard water is abrasive to the internal components of faucets and valves. Cartridges in high-use faucets — kitchen sinks, master bathroom — can wear out faster than the same fixtures on soft water because mineral particles in the water abrade the ceramic or rubber sealing surfaces. If you are replacing cartridges more often than expected, or if faucet handles have become stiff and hard to operate, hard water scaling is the likely contributing factor. A whole-home softener reduces that wear rate across every fixture in the house. For the water heater side of hard water damage, see our water heater repair page — the scaling that wears faucet cartridges is doing the same thing inside the tank.