Faucet Repair & Installation in West Valley City, UT
A dripping faucet is a worn cartridge, not a dead fixture. In water this hard they are consumables, and replacing one takes half an hour.
This page covers faucets in every room, because the fault list and the repair are the same whether it is over a bathroom vanity or a kitchen sink. Only the fixture styles and the extras — pull-down sprayers, side sprays, filtered water taps — differ.
The important thing to understand about faucets in the Salt Lake Valley is that the cartridge is a wear part. It contains ceramic discs or a rubber-seated stem that has to make a watertight seal every time you close the tap. Hard water leaves grit and scale on those surfaces, they get scored, and eventually the tap drips. That is not the faucet failing; that is a $15 to $40 component reaching the end of its life.
Which is why we always price the repair first. A cartridge swap on a decent faucet is a fraction of the cost of a new fixture, and a good faucet body will outlast several cartridges. Where the fixture itself is cheap, corroded or obsolete with no parts available, we will say so and price a replacement.
Symptoms
What your faucet is telling you
- Drips from the spout when closed. Worn cartridge or seat. Closing it harder makes it worse, not better.
- Weak flow from one faucet only. Aerator packed with scale. Unscrew, soak in vinegar, refit. Often a two-minute fix you can do yourself.
- Leaks around the base of the spout. Failed O-rings where the spout swivels. Cheap kit, easy repair.
- Water under the sink. Supply connection, angle stop, or the drain tailpiece and trap. Worth finding quickly — cabinet bases rot fast.
- Handle is stiff or gritty. Mineral in the cartridge. It will get worse, and forcing it can break the stem.
- Sprayer will not retract or has lost pressure. Pull-down hose, weight or the diverter. All replaceable without a new faucet.
- Squealing when opened. Worn washer or a stem seal, or occasionally high pressure. Worth checking the house pressure while we are there.
Repair vs. replace
When to fit a new faucet instead
Repair whenever the fixture is decent quality and parts are available. A cartridge, an O-ring kit or a new aerator restores it to as-new performance for a fraction of replacement cost. Good brands support their fixtures with parts for many years.
Replace when the body itself is corroded or pitted, when the finish has worn through, when the faucet is a budget import with no parts availability, or when you simply want something different as part of a refresh.
Also replace if it is a two-handle unit that has needed repeated attention. At some point the seats in the body are worn beyond what new washers can compensate for.
One practical note about supply: if you are buying your own faucet, buy on the strength of the valve and parts support rather than the finish. A well-supported faucet at a moderate price will serve you far better over ten years than a designer fixture nobody stocks cartridges for.
Installation
How we fit a faucet
Isolate and remove
Stops closed, lines drained, old fixture out. We check the stops actually close, and replace them if they do not.
Prepare the deck
Old sealant and mineral cleaned off, hole spacing checked against the new fixture, escutcheon fitted if needed.
Fit and connect
New faucet set and secured, new braided supply lines, correct torque on connections.
Test and flush
Aerator removed and lines flushed to clear debris, then refitted, with every connection checked under pressure.
Costs
Faucet repair and installation costs
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aerator clean or replace | $95 – $180 | Often bundled with another job. |
| Cartridge replacement | $160 – $320 | The fix for most drips. |
| O-ring and seal kit | $150 – $290 | For leaks around the spout base. |
| Bathroom faucet, labour only | $180 – $380 | You supply the fixture. |
| Kitchen faucet, labour only | $220 – $450 | More involved, especially with a sprayer or filter tap. |
| Faucet supplied and fitted | $280 – $700 | Depends heavily on the fixture chosen. |
| Angle stops replaced (pair) | $280 – $520 | Strongly recommended on older installs. |
| Outdoor hose bibb replacement | $220 – $480 | Frost-free type. |
Typical local ranges, not quotes. Fixture cost varies widely.
Worth knowing
Getting more life out of your faucets
- Clean the aerators twice a year. Unscrew, soak in white vinegar overnight, rinse and refit. It takes minutes and it restores flow.
- Do not close a dripping tap harder. The drip means the seal is worn. Force damages the seat and turns a cartridge job into a fixture job.
- Replace angle stops when they get stiff. A stop that will not close is the reason a small leak becomes an emergency.
- Check under the sink occasionally. A torch and thirty seconds. Cabinet bases absorb water invisibly until they collapse.
- Buy for parts availability. The best predictor of a long faucet life is whether you can still get a cartridge for it in ten years.
- A softener helps here too. It is the single biggest factor in how often faucet cartridges need replacing in this valley.
FAQ
Faucet Repair & Installation: your questions answered
Why does my faucet drip even when it is fully closed?
Because the sealing surface inside is worn. In a cartridge faucet the ceramic discs have been scored by grit and scale; in an older compression faucet the washer or the seat has worn. Replacing the cartridge or reseating the valve fixes it properly.
Can you repair any brand of faucet?
We carry cartridges for the common brands and can source most others. The exception is budget import fixtures with proprietary internals and no parts supply, where replacement is genuinely the only option. We will tell you which category yours is in.
How long does a faucet installation take?
A straightforward bathroom faucet is usually 45 minutes to an hour and a half. A kitchen faucet with a pull-down sprayer, a soap dispenser or a filtered water tap takes longer, typically one to two hours.
Should I buy my own faucet?
You are welcome to. Buy on valve quality and parts support rather than finish, check the hole spacing on your sink or deck matches the fixture, and make sure it comes complete. We will flag any mismatch before we start.
Why is my water pressure low at just one faucet?
Nine times out of ten it is the aerator, which is a small screen at the tip of the spout that catches scale. Unscrew it, soak it in vinegar and refit it. If that does not fix it, the cartridge or the angle stop is restricted.
Do you fit outdoor faucets and hose bibbs?
Yes, including frost-free types, which are what you want in this climate. If yours split over winter it is very often because a hose was left connected, which stops the bibb draining.
Related plumbing services
Faucet dripping?
It is almost certainly a cartridge, not a new faucet. Call and we will fix it properly in a single visit.