Fixtures I replace and leaks I chase
Bar and kitchen taps, vanity and bathroom faucets, laundry taps, shower heads and hand showers, toilets and toilet internals, pop-up drains and basket strainers, P-traps and tailpieces, braided supply lines, compression shut-off valves, and food waste disposers. Each of those is a like-for-like change of something already there, which is exactly where faucet installation belongs on a handyman list rather than a plumber list.
Under-sink leaks come from a short list of suspects, and identifying the right one saves replacing parts that were never at fault. A wet cabinet floor can be a supply nut, the packing nut on the stop, a slip joint washer sitting crooked in the trap, a basket strainer that lost its seal, or a faucet body weeping down the shank where nobody can see it. I dry everything, run water, and watch for the first drop.
Where my work stops and a licensed plumber starts
Being straight about this saves everybody money. Opening a wall, moving a drain or a supply rough-in, soldering copper, cutting into a stack, replacing a stop that is soldered directly onto the pipe, or anything touching a shared riser in a Toronto condo tower is licensed plumber territory, and that is who I will point you to. The same goes for a leak inside a wall or ceiling, a drain that backs up beyond the trap arm, and sewer smell that returns after the trap has been refilled.
Everything short of that line is fair game: faucet installation, replacing compression stops on an existing stub-out, clearing a blocked trap, rebuilding a toilet, and tracking down a slow drip.
How a faucet installation actually goes
A faucet installation starts with the water off at both stops, then the tap is opened to drop the pressure and drain the lines. Old supply lines come off into a tray, and the mounting nuts come off with a basin wrench or the plastic tool packed with the new fixture. The sink deck is scraped clean of hardened putty and silicone with a plastic blade so the new gasket seats flat on a dry surface. Modern faucets ship with their own rubber or foam gasket, so putty under the base is rarely needed at all.
New braided stainless supply lines go on every time, sized to the stop and to the faucet, never reused from the old fixture. Thread tape belongs on tapered male threads such as a shower arm, and nowhere near a compression fitting or a rubber-sealed supply nut, where it only holds the seal apart. Joints are snugged rather than cranked, because brass and plastic strip long before they feel tight. Before I pack up:
- Hot and cold run at full flow and the aerator is checked
- The sink is filled and drained to load the trap and its joints
- Every joint is dried with paper towel and rechecked after use
- The cabinet floor goes back dry so any later drip is obvious
- Shut-off valves are cycled and left working, not seized open
- The old fixture and the packaging leave with me
Toilets, drains and the parts that fail quietly
Toilet work follows its own order. The tank is drained and sponged out, the closet bolts come off, and the old wax is scraped away completely. If new tile has left the flange sitting below the finished floor, an extender ring brings it back up, because stacking wax rings is a leak waiting to happen. The bowl is set on a fresh seal, shimmed if it rocks, and the nuts are drawn down in stages by hand, since china cracks well before a nut feels tight. Caulk around the base is left open at the back so a hidden leak shows on the floor instead of rotting the subfloor.
Running toilets are usually a worn flapper or a fill valve past its life, and both are quick to change. A refill tube pushed down inside the overflow pipe rather than clipped above it can siphon the tank empty, which is a common cause of a toilet that cycles on its own at night.
Choosing a fixture that fits your sink
Send me a photo before you buy. Sinks come drilled as a single hole, as a centreset with the outer holes 100 mm (4 in) apart, or as a widespread at 200 mm (8 in), and a deck plate can cover holes you no longer need. Check the spout reach against the bowl and the height against any window sill above the sink, then favour a tap with a ceramic disc cartridge you can still buy parts for. On stone and composite sinks a basket strainer gets silicone rather than plumber putty, which can stain.
