In just one home, leaks in plumbing can waste anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 gallons every year.

They can also cause serious structural damage, mold problems, and in the case of a dripping faucet, insanity. The worst part? Many leaks aren’t even visible, and can be difficult to detect. Water stains, or a significant increase in your water bill, could tip you off to their presence. Some leaks are obvious, and easily fixed. Some, not so much. What follows are some methods to help you check for leaks in your home, seen and unseen. While not the most exciting way to spend your Saturday, checking for and locating leaks will save a lot of water, and it may save you money.

Could I have a potential leak in my home?

Let’s find out.

Have you noticed disturbed dust patterns that look like a dirty car after the rain has dried? We would say that at some point water has been there. Whether its from an open window, a supply line, or a kid.. well, that’s harder to tell.

If you do see water, follow the drips, and turn off the nearest shutoff valve, and either fix it if you know how or call us. If there is just dusty evidence, you still might be able to find the leak.

Water follows the path of least resistance. There’s a pretty good chance if you found evidence of a leak (and it hasn’t been fixed), that water will travel that way again. One trick to help find where the drips are dropping from calls for a paper towel or paper bag. This is a useful trick in rental homes, especially when you’ve just moved in (since a leak may have been fixed, but the cleanup job may not have been too great). Grab a paper towel, a paper bag, or even a newspaper and put it under where you suspect dripping. If a drip falls, it will leave a spot, which should help you find where the drip originated. You can also try making an ink grid on the paper using some sort of non-permanent marker to make any drips more obvious.

If there are supply lines or appliances around the suspect area, check them carefully for rips or splits, unattached hoses, or anything else that looks like it could cause a leak.

If all looks right, turn on the water (or water-using appliance), making sure you can turn if off again quickly just in case. Check for leaks (you may need to wait a few minutes), and turn everything back off. If you see drips on your paper, put a bowl or bucket to catch the water, then trace that drip back to where it came from. Once you know what’s leaking, you can fix it yourself or call your landlord or us and let them know what you found (and how you found it).

If you see nothing at the time, it might just be a really slow leak. Check on it daily or more often to see if drips fall when you’re not looking. If you have no drips after a week or so, the leak might have been taken care of, or it might have been that kid after all. Or maybe it only appears when it rains. Either way, still check every so often, and mention it to us the next time you see them.

Please keep in mind that just because you cannot identify a leak yourself, doesn’t  mean you don’t have one. Listen to your gut and look at the evidence. If you feel something isn’t right, your water bill suddenly shoots up, your water meter seems to be running a marathon, or you hear running water when nothing is on and can’t find the reason, don’t wait, call us right away! Not all leaks are easily visible, or leave obvious clues. Some leaks, like ones under a home, may manifest as a warm spot under your feet that hasn’t been there before, or a yard that suddenly has squishy places (possibly broken sprinkler pipe, but also a potential septic issue). These sort of leaks require a licensed plumber quickly.

For more information regarding indoor leaks, or hidden leaks, click the link to be directed to another page.

Source: Houzz

There are good reasons to have two sinks in your kitchen — if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford that option, of course. Having two properly placed sinks improves kitchen workflow, allows multiple cooks to work in comfort simultaneously, and prevents dirty dishes from getting in the cook’s way.

Why Have a Cleanup Sink?

In a nutshell, the cleanup sink is for washing dishes, pots and glassware. It’s for cleaning up! But why do you need a dedicated cleanup sink? Because readying a meal and cleaning up afterward are two separate processes that should be physically separated. That’s how restaurants do it — the person busing tables wouldn’t dare enter the chef’s domain, after all — and the same strategy works beautifully at home.

Creating a Cleanup Zone

In order for your cleanup sink to function properly, you’ll want to surround it with the proper tools and equipment. First, the sink needs to have counter on both sides — ideally at least 3 feet per side, 2 feet at a minimum. This is necessary so that dirty dishes can move, assembly-line style, from one side to the other. Second, you should place wall cabinets or alternative storage around the sink so that plates and glassware have a home close by.

Third, you definitely want to have the dishwasher next to the cleanup sink, and your trash pullout close at hand. Finally, you should have a drawer nearby for storing silverware.

Once these items surround your cleanup sink, you’ll have created a well-functioning cleanup station — mission control for setting the table and cleaning and putting away the dishes.

What to Consider

There is no one-size-fits-all approach when selecting your cleanup sink. Instead, your decision will come down to your needs, preferences and priorities. The details are really important for making the best choices!

1. Choose Bowl Number

One of the first decisions you’ll want to make about your cleanup sink is whether you want one bowl or two. When everyone washed dishes by hand, double bowls made a lot of sense. But today many people use dishwashers so powerful that rinsing dishes beforehand is not required. If you’re not hand-washing or pre-rinsing, do you really need two bowls?

Single-bowl sinks have a few advantages. They fit large items while taking up a minimum of counter space. They also fit the modern lifestyle, where hand-washing is often done with running water (instead of a full bowl of soapy water followed by a rinse). Single bowls also allow you to choose from the popular apron or farmhouse styles, which are typically just one bowl.

If a double-bowl sink makes the most sense for you — maybe you’ll be hand-washing your grandmother’s china frequently — you may want to consider a model with unequal bowl sizes, as shown in this photo, to get maximum width in the large section.

Tip: People have different preferences, but if you do choose two bowls, I recommend that you place the garbage disposal on the larger side. That way, you’ll be able to soak your casserole dish, then dump out the food bits directly into the disposal.

2. Get the Right Width

No matter how many bowls you prefer, your cleanup sink should be wide enough to soak platters or lasagna pans. Single-bowl sinks are commonly 30 to 36 inches wide, while double-bowl sinks are frequently 33 to 42 inches wide. You may want to bring your favorite large dish along on your sink-shopping trip to be sure it will fit inside your chosen sink. If space in your kitchen is limited, I recommend choosing a single bowl so that you have the greatest amount of continuous sink-basin width.

The constant dripping can slowly drive a person insane, not to mention the hundreds (if not thousands) of gallons of water you’re paying for – all of it just lost down the drain each year. Save your sanity and and get that leaky faucet fixed.

First things first, you need to figure out where the leak in your faucet is coming from.

Go to your faucet and check it out while you answer the following questions. Dry the area around the faucet before you begin so you can easily identify any new drips, and be sure to check underneath the sink for leakage as well.

• • If your faucet is turned off, does water still drip out of the spout?
    • If the answer is yes, then some or all of the internal parts of the faucet may need to be replaced, depending on your water condition.

• • If you turn your faucet on, is water leaking around the base of the faucet as water is running out through the spout?
    • If the answer is yes to this question, then usually the o-rings surrounding the spout just need to be replaced.

• • If you turn your faucet on, does water leak or spray out through the top of the handle?
    • Replacing the cartridge or stem will fix this. But it could just be an o-ring needs to be replaced.

• • If your faucet is turned off, does water leak around the base of the faucet, but not out of the spout?
    • The faucet housing itself may have developed a pin hole leak. This happens very rarely, but it can still happen. If this is the case you could have water under the sink, inside the cabinet. Check all of the water supply line connections for possible leaks and if the only leak is from the base of the faucet you will most likely need to replace your faucet.

If your faucet isn’t exhibiting any of the above behaviors, but it’s still leaking…well, we recommend calling us or simply replacing the faucet. But if you were able to discover the source of your leak – yay! Let’s move on to the next step.

Now that you’ve discovered where the leak is coming from, it’s time to repair it.

One other thing to keep in mind – don’t bring any notions to the job that it’s necessarily a snap and you’ll be done in 15 minutes. That’s the surest way to set yourself up for disappointment, since even seemingly simple plumbing jobs require patience and care to complete properly. Make sure you have a backup plan if for some reason the repair doesn’t go smoothly or the problem is bigger than you suspected. For example, if your kitchen faucet is the one leaking, do you have another means of getting water if your faucet is out of commission for a few days? Plan ahead, just in case!

Step One: Turn off the water to the faucet.

There are usually shut off valves, also known as stop valves (one for hot and one for cold), under the sink for such an occasion as this. If you do not have an angle or straight stop valve under the sink, you will need to turn off the water to the whole house.

Once you have turned the water to the faucet off, turn or move the faucet handle(s) to the open position to check and make sure the water is off. At this point we suggest you put a stopper or rag in the drain to remove any possibility of parts accidentally disappearing down the drain. Trust us, this happens. And it isn’t fun.

Step Two: Remove the faucet handle(s).

Most acrylic style handles use a cosmetic cover button to hide a flat head screw underneath. Single lever handles usually have a recessed allen screw discreetly and strategically hidden in a location not easily seen when the faucet is in the off position, so you may need to grab a flashlight and do some hard looking.

Once you have discovered how to remove your handle, use a screwdriver or hex (allen) wrench, whichever is needed, and remove your handle. You do not normally have to remove the allen screw completely from the handle to remove the handle. Often times when the allen screw is completely removed it is accidentally lost or easily misplaced.

Step Three: Remove the retaining nut(s).

Once the handle is removed you will find there is always some kind of retaining nut that holds the internal parts in place. Retaining nuts can have exterior threads that tighten onto the main body of the faucet, or have interior threads that will tighten into the body of the faucet depending on the design of the faucet. We recommend you use a box end wrench or crescent wrench to remove retaining nuts. Some retaining nuts are also a cosmetic part of the faucet and the use of pliers or channel locks can mar the finish.

Step Four: Determine what kind of mechanism your faucet uses.

There are basically three types of internal movement mechanisms used in faucets – cartridges, compression stems, or ball assemblies. Most single control faucets use either a cartridge or a ball assembly. Usually, you can easily distinguish between these two styles once you remove the handle on a single control faucet, as ball faucets literally have a ball inside (with a short handle sticking out of the ball). If you have a 2-handled faucet you can usually determine what style your faucet is simply by turning the handle. If your faucet has a cartridge, the handle will turn left or right either a quarter or half a turn and stop in the same place each time. If the handle rotates more than half a turn, and continues to rotate 360 degrees until it reaches its limit, then you have a compression style faucet.

Step Five: Remove the internal working parts.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE ORDER IN WHICH YOU REMOVE THE INTERNAL FAUCET PARTS. We cannot stress this enough. Many faucet repair kits don’t come with instructions specific to your individual faucet model, and if you don’t put the components back in the same order, you may have bigger problems later on. We suggest taking notes, or maybe even taking a quick photo of your faucet with the handles off or a series of photos as you remove the components.

If you have a cartridge, then you will just pull the cartridge straight out. Ceramic disc cartridges can usually be cleaned and the rubber seals at the bottom replaced and the cartridge reinserted for prolonged service. However, if you replace the rubber seals and reinsert the cartridge and find your faucet is still leaking then you will usually need to purchase an entire new replacement cartridge. Sometimes the ceramic discs can be scratched by fine sand or grit in the water causing them to leak.

If you are removing the retaining nut and the stem is threaded through and attached to the retaining nut, then you have a compression-style faucet and the stem will have a washer screwed to the bottom of it. Once you have removed the stem, examine the threads, any o-rings or packing washers, and the rubber washer at the bottom of the stem. As long as the metal retaining ring for the washer is in good condition, then just the washer can be replaced. If the metal retaining ring is not in good condition, then the entire stem will need to be replaced.

With ball assembly faucets, once the top cap is removed, the cam will be exposed. The cam is the plastic piece with the lever poking through it. Remove the cam, cam washer, and control lever ball assembly. Examine the control ball – if it is damaged or scratched, you will need to replace it. If not, you’ll just need to replace the rubber valve seats and springs, and maybe the o-rings.

Step Six: Find your replacement parts.

It’s best if you remove the parts and bring them to a plumbing supply store, rather than buy replacement parts before you take the faucet apart and risk having to return them if they’re the wrong ones. You can look for the parts yourself if repair kits are on a wall display, or you can ask a sales person for help. In either case, don’t leave the store until you are sure the parts in your hand match those that you brought in. It also helps to know the make of the faucet you’re trying to repair, or show the sales person your photos.

Step Seven: Reassemble the faucet using the replacement parts.

Here’s where your pictures or notes come in handy – all you really need to do is put everything on in the same order you took it off. Remember to coat your o-rings with plumber’s grease (usually included in most repair kits), and just take your time getting everything put back together. Make sure each piece fits properly before you continue.

Step Eight: Turn the water supply back on and check for leaks.

If your faucet isn’t leaking anymore, move on to the next step. If you’re still experiencing a problem and you didn’t replace ALL of the components, you might want to consider going back and replacing the ones you didn’t replace before. If you DID replace all of the components, you may need to call in a plumber or replace the entire faucet.

Step Nine: You did it. Your faucet no longer leaks. You just saved yourself some money on your water bill, and helped to conserve our most precious natural resource – fresh drinking water. You’re awesome.

If these steps seem overwhelming to you or you simply do not have the time.

Contact us by phone, text (519-575-5639),

email (info@coppermechanical-ltd.ca)

or using our submission form below!