How to Fix a Leaky Faucet Drip in 20 Minutes
A dripping faucet wastes 3,000+ gallons a year. Step-by-step fix for compression, cartridge, ball, and ceramic disc faucets, a $5 washer or a $15 cartridge, not a plumber.
Quick answer: To fix a leaky faucet drip, first identify the faucet type, compression (two handles), cartridge (single lever), ball, or ceramic disc, by pulling the handle off and looking inside. Compression faucets need a new rubber washer at the bottom of the stem. Cartridge faucets need a matching replacement cartridge ($10-25). Shut off the water at the under-sink valves and plug the drain before disassembly. Most drips are a $5-25 part, not a whole faucet replacement.
A faucet drip sounds louder at 10 p.m. when the house is quiet, and almost every one comes down to a single worn part: a washer or a cartridge. Twenty minutes and under ten bucks once you know which one you’re after.
I’d been pretending not to hear our kitchen faucet drip for three days when Megan finally said “Babe” in that particular tone over coffee on a Saturday. Killed the water under the sink, pulled the cartridge, drove to the hardware store with the old one in a paper towel. A fresh Moen 1225 cost $14.30 with tax. Fourteen minutes back at the sink later, the faucet ran quiet for the first time since Tuesday. I caught the first pitch of the game with the smell of plumber’s grease still on my hands.
The walkthrough below covers the four common faucet types, plus the things that make people think the job is harder than it is. Match the right washer or cartridge to your faucet and the actual repair is straightforward.
Tools and Materials
- An adjustable wrench
- A Phillips and a flathead screwdriver
- Allen wrenches (a set is fine, most faucets use 1/8” or 3/32”)
- Channel-lock or slip-joint pliers
- A clean rag
- Plumber’s grease (small tube, about $3, lasts the life of the house)
- A small magnet (for catching the retaining clip, see below)
- Replacement parts depending on faucet type
If you don’t own these basic hand tools, a starter set covers all of them for about $25.
Step 1: Identify Your Faucet Type
This is the part most guides skip and the part that causes most of the headaches. Four common types:
- Compression, two separate handles (hot/cold) that you screw down to shut off. Most common in older homes. Rubber washers that wear out.
- Cartridge, single handle that lifts up to turn on and rotates left/right for temperature. Removable plastic or metal cartridge inside. Moen, Delta, Kohler all sell brand-specific cartridges. The Moen 1225 is the one I keep a spare of in the garage, same cartridge fits most older Moen single-handle faucets.
- Ball, single handle you push and rotate. Metal or plastic ball inside the housing. Most internal parts of any faucet type.
- Ceramic disc, single lever, usually mounted high. Two ceramic discs slide against each other. Very durable but the replacement cartridges are pricey.
If you’re not sure, just take the handle off and look. The internal mechanism tells you immediately.
Step 2: Turn Off the Water and Plug the Drain
Two shut-off valves under the sink, one hot, one cold. Turn both clockwise until they stop. Run the faucet at the sink to confirm the water is fully off and drain residual pressure.
Then plug the drain with a stopper or stuff a rag in it. The fastest way to ruin a faucet repair is to drop a tiny screw down the drain. Cartridge retaining clips are smaller than a dime and they love to launch themselves the second you pull them. A small magnet held over the clip before you remove it catches the clip clean, keeps it on the magnet and out of the sink.
Step 3: Take the Handle Off
Look for a small cap on top of the handle, usually a decorative button labeled “H” or “C”, or just a flat plastic disc. Pry it off gently with a flathead screwdriver. Under it is a screw.
- For compression faucets: a Phillips screw
- For most cartridge and ball faucets: an Allen screw
Unscrew it and pull the handle straight up. If it’s stuck (common on older faucets), wiggle it gently or tap the base lightly with the handle of your screwdriver. Don’t force it, you’ll snap something.
Step 4: Fix It (By Faucet Type)
Compression faucet
Easiest fix in plumbing. With the handle off, you’ll see a stem. Use a wrench to unscrew the packing nut around the stem and lift the stem out.
At the bottom of the stem is a small rubber washer held by a brass screw. That’s your leak. Unscrew the brass screw, pop the old washer off, take it to the store, and match it exactly. Drop the new washer in, reassemble in reverse, water back on. Done.
If the leak is from around the handle rather than the spout, you need a new O-ring higher up on the stem. Same idea, slide the old one off, replace with one the same size, thin smear of plumber’s grease before sliding the stem back in.
Cartridge faucet
After removing the handle, you’ll see a retaining clip or nut holding the cartridge in place. Hold a magnet near the clip before you pry it free. Pop it out with pliers, then pull the cartridge straight up. Cartridges sometimes stick, pull firmly and straight, not at an angle. For a cartridge that won’t budge at all, see our stuck shower cartridge guide for the penetrating-oil-and-puller method, force is what cracks valve bodies.
Take the cartridge to a hardware store and match it. Knowing the faucet brand helps, most cartridges are brand-specific. Moen 1225, Delta RP19804, Kohler GP500520, the part numbers are stamped right on the body of the old cartridge. Slide the new cartridge in at the same orientation, replace the clip, reinstall the handle.
A new cartridge is $10-25 and almost always solves the problem.
Ball faucet
Ball faucets have the most internal parts and a slightly more involved fix. Inside, you’ll find:
- A cam and washer on top
- The ball itself
- Two rubber seats and springs in the housing below
Pull these out one at a time and keep them in the order they came out, line them up on a paper towel. Most leaky ball faucets are fixed by replacing the seats and springs (a $5 kit specific to your faucet brand).
If the spout still drips after the seats and springs, replace the ball too.
Ceramic disc faucet
Ceramic discs rarely fail. When they do, the fix is replacing the cartridge assembly, the entire disc unit. Unscrew the mounting screws below the handle, lift the assembly out, replace it with a matching unit from the manufacturer.
Ceramic disc cartridges run $30-60, pricier than other types, but the manufacturer ratings on them are 20+ years.
Step 5: Reassemble and Test
Reverse your disassembly. Hand-tighten everything first, then snug it up with a wrench, don’t crank. Plumber’s grease on any O-rings before reinstalling.
Turn the water back on slowly at the shut-off valves. Open the faucet to let air out, then close it and check for drips at the spout and around the handle. Run the water for a minute and check again.
If it still drips, the most common reason is the wrong replacement part. Recheck what you put in against what came out.
The Magnet Trick (worth its own section)
Cartridge retaining clips are smaller than a dime, made of stainless steel, and engineered (it seems) to launch themselves directly into your drain the moment you pull them. A small magnet, the cheap fridge kind, held over the clip area BEFORE you free the clip catches it cleanly to the magnet face. I learned this after my second hardware-store run for a $1.50 replacement clip.
If your faucet uses a cartridge, do this. It will save you a trip.
What Goes Sideways
Replacing the wrong part. Most leaky faucet drips are washers, O-rings, or cartridges, not the whole faucet. Don’t let a hardware store associate sell you a full replacement before you’ve tried the small fix.
Not turning the water off all the way. A “mostly off” shut-off valve sprays you in the face the moment you remove the cartridge. Turn it until it stops, then test by running the faucet.
Cranking down too hard on reassembly. Faucet parts seal with light pressure and the help of O-rings and washers. Overtighten and you’ll deform the washer (causing a new leak) or strip the threads (causing a much bigger problem).
Dropping the small parts. Plug the drain. Always. The retaining clip on a cartridge is half the size of a dime and lives one slip away from your sewer line. A small magnet held near the clip while you remove it is the trick that’s saved me a hardware-store run more than once.
Forgetting plumber’s grease. A dry O-ring starts leaking within months. A greased one lasts for years. The $3 tube lasts the life of the home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my faucet only drip at night? It probably drips all day too, you just notice it at night when the house is quiet. Some people see “phantom” night-only drips when household water pressure rises slightly at night because no one else is using it.
How much does a leaky faucet cost in water? A faucet that drips once per second wastes about 3,000 gallons a year. That’s $30 to $60 a year on your water bill, plus the wear on the faucet.
Should I replace the whole faucet? Only if the faucet itself is corroded, badly scratched, or more than 15 years old. Most leaks are washers and cartridges, $5 to $25 fixes. A new faucet is $80 and up, plus installation labor.
Why won’t the handle come off? Mineral buildup is the usual culprit. Try wiggling it gently while pulling up. If it won’t budge, soak it with white vinegar on a rag for 15 minutes and try again. Don’t pry against the sink top, you’ll crack porcelain or chip granite.
Is the leak coming from the base instead of the spout? That’s almost always a worn O-ring under the spout, not a washer in the handle. Pull the spout straight up (handle removed first) and replace the O-rings on the inner body. Use plumber’s grease.
A plumber charges $150 to $300 for a faucet repair that takes you 20 minutes and $10 in parts. The hardest part is figuring out which type of faucet you have, and you can do that in five minutes with a screwdriver. Identify the type, match the part, reverse what you took apart.