How to Fix a Leaky Faucet (and When to Replace It Instead)

Your faucet is dripping and you want to stop it before it wastes another gallon or drives you crazy at 2 a.m. Fair. The good news is that most leaks come down to one worn part inside the faucet: a washer, an O-ring, or a cartridge. Figure out which faucet you have and which part failed, and you've usually got a cheap fix you can do with your hands. We sort out which part it is on every faucet call before we quote a dollar, and most of the time we're telling homeowners the same thing this guide will.

A slow drip is rarely the faucet giving up. It's one worn part inside it, and the whole trick is telling a $6 washer apart from a fixture that's genuinely done.

Nava's Elite Plumbing works these homes every week across Norwalk, Whittier, Downey, Bellflower, and La Mirada. Owner Anibal Nava runs a licensed, bonded, and insured shop, and the southeast LA County water we all drink runs roughly 10 to 17 grains per gallon. That hard water is the real reason faucet parts here wear out a few years sooner than the box says. Below is the same diagnosis we run in our heads when we walk up to a leaking faucet, the steps that are safe to do yourself, and the exact point where fixing it stops making sense.

How to fix a leaky faucet: first, know which type you have

Before you buy a single part, figure out which of four faucet designs is on your sink, because the fix is different for each and buying the wrong repair kit is the most common wasted trip to the hardware store. Turn off the water at the angle stops under the sink first, then look at how the handle works.

Compression faucet (two handles, and each one keeps turning tighter as you close it). The oldest design, common on the original fixtures in 1950s and 1960s Norwalk tract homes. These leak from a worn rubber seat washer.
Cartridge faucet (one or two handles that move smoothly through a fixed arc, no tightening). Leaks come from a worn cartridge or its O-rings.
Ball faucet (a single handle that swivels on a rounded cap, most often a kitchen faucet). A lot of small parts inside: springs, seats, and a ball that all wear.
Ceramic-disc faucet (single lever over a wide cylindrical body, the modern standard). Very reliable, but the inlet seals and the disc cartridge eventually scale up in hard water.

Dripping faucet washer replacement: the compression-faucet fix

If you've got a two-handle faucet that drips from the spout, the culprit is almost always a worn seat washer, and this is the classic $6 fix. It's the most satisfying repair in plumbing because you can watch the drip stop.

Shut off the water at the angle stops under the sink, then open the faucet to drain the line and relieve pressure.
Pop the decorative cap on top of the handle, remove the screw underneath, and pull the handle off.
Unscrew the packing nut and lift out the valve stem. The rubber seat washer is on the bottom end, held by a brass screw.
Swap the washer. Take the old one to the store to match the size exactly. While you're in there, replace the O-ring on the stem too, since it's cheap and you're already there.
Check the valve seat. Run a fingertip around the seat down inside the faucet body. If it feels smooth, reassemble and you're done. If it feels rough, pitted, or crusted, stop, and read the next section, because a new washer will not seal against a bad seat.

Turn the water back on slowly and check for the drip. Silence after a minute means you fixed it and you owe us nothing.

Nine out of ten dripping two-handle faucets we're called for are a worn washer and a rough seat. If the seat is clean, that's a fix you keep the money on.

Cartridge, ball, and ceramic-disc: single-handle drips

Single-handle faucets don't use a seat washer, so the fix depends on the internals. The upside is that the manufacturer sells a repair kit or a whole replacement cartridge matched to your model.

Cartridge faucet. Pull the handle, remove the retaining clip, and slide the old cartridge straight out. Match it by brand and model, drop the new one in the same orientation, and reassemble. A leak from the base of the spout instead of the tip usually means the larger O-rings around the body, not the cartridge.
Ball faucet. Buy the brand-specific kit with the springs, rubber seats, and cam. There are several tiny parts and they go back in a specific order, so lay them out as you remove them. This is the fiddliest of the four.
Ceramic-disc faucet. These rarely drip, so when one does, first pull the disc cartridge and clean the mineral scale off the inlet seals. If cleaning the scale doesn't fix it, the disc cartridge itself is worn and gets replaced as a unit.

Ready to hand it off instead? If the fix doesn't hold, our Norwalk plumbers repair and replace kitchen and bath faucets with the right parts on the truck, or call us at 213-254-8695.

How to fix a leaky bathtub faucet

A tub or shower faucet works on the same washer-or-cartridge logic as a sink, with one big difference: the valve is buried in the wall, not sitting on a countertop. That changes what's safe to do yourself. A dripping tub spout on an older two-handle setup is often the same seat-washer or stem fix as a compression sink faucet, reached behind the handle escutcheon after you shut the water off.

But here is the honest line, and it's the one most guides skip. On a single-handle wall-mount tub or shower valve, the drip usually means the cartridge inside the wall valve is worn, and pulling it can seize, snap, or reveal a valve body that's corroded past a simple swap. On the older slab-on-grade homes across Norwalk and Downey, those wall valves are often decades old and brittle. If the cartridge won't budge, or you can't fully shut the water to that valve, or the whole valve body looks corroded, stop. Forcing it can turn a $20 cartridge into an open wall and a much bigger repair.

A dripping tub spout you can reach is often a homeowner fix. A single-handle wall valve fighting you is the point to call, before a stuck cartridge becomes an open wall.

When a tub or shower valve is fighting back, that's exactly the work we do without tearing up more wall than we have to. Talk it through with us at 213-254-8695 or request a free quote.

The honest part: sometimes you don't need us at all

Most plumbers won't put this in writing, so we will. Don't call us if you swapped a worn washer or a matched cartridge, the seat was clean, and the drip stopped. You fixed it. That's a 20-minute job and there's nothing left for us to do. And don't let anyone talk you into a brand-new faucet when a $6 washer or a $15 cartridge solves the whole thing, we'd rather tell you to skip the visit than sell you a fixture you don't need. The repair-vs-replace call only tips toward replacement for specific reasons, and those are next.

When to replace a faucet instead of repairing it

A leaky faucet earns a full replacement when the fix is no longer a part you can drop in. Here's the cluster of signs that means the fixture, not the washer, is the problem.

The valve seat is pitted or corroded, so a new washer or cartridge has nothing smooth to seal against. This is the number one reason a repair won't hold in our hard water.
You've replaced the cartridge and it still drips, which points at a worn valve body, not the part.
The faucet body is cracked, corroded green, or leaking from the base where it meets the sink, not from the spout.
Replacement parts are discontinued for an older or off-brand faucet, so there's nothing to rebuild it with.
The faucet is rocking loose or the finish is flaking, and you were planning to update it anyway.

When we get a call like this, we don't just swap a part and leave. We check the valve seat, the body, and the supply connections, and tell you honestly whether it's a $6 washer or a fixture at the end of its life. If it's genuinely time, our Norwalk plumbers replace kitchen and bath faucets and set them on solid, drip-free supply connections. Downey homeowners can book a faucet repair or replacement the same way, or call 213-254-8695 and we'll give you the straight answer.

If a new cartridge won't hold, you don't have a cartridge problem, you have a seat or a valve-body problem. Buying the same part twice is the tell.

FAQ: Should I repair or replace a leaky faucet?

The deciding factor is where the leak comes from and whether the valve seat is sound, not how old the faucet looks. If the drip is from the spout, the seat feels smooth, and it's a washer or cartridge you can match, repair is almost always the right money, those are parts, and parts get replaced. Replace the whole faucet when the seat is pitted or corroded so nothing new can seal, when a fresh cartridge still drips, when the body is cracked or leaking at the base, or when the parts are discontinued and there's nothing to rebuild it with. Age tips a close call: a faucet that's been rebuilt more than once, in our hard water, is usually telling you it's done. The wrong move is paying to replace a whole faucet when a $6 washer fixes it, or repairing the same corroded body twice. We check the seat and the body before we quote a dollar, so you're never paying for the wrong fix. When you want a straight answer, here's kitchen and bath faucet repair and replacement, or call 213-254-8695.