Okay, so I’ve been wanting to swap out my old kitchen faucet for a while now. It was one of those low, builder-grade ones, and it just wasn’t cutting it. Plus, it was starting to leak. Time for an upgrade! I decided to go with a top-mount faucet because, well, my sink is already top-mount, and I didn’t want to mess with a whole new sink installation.
First things first, I turned off the water supply. Don’t want any surprise showers! There are usually shut-off valves under the sink – one for hot, one for cold. I gave those a good twist until they were nice and tight.
Next, I disconnected the old faucet. This involved unscrewing the water supply lines (had a bucket ready to catch any drips!) and then dealing with the mounting hardware underneath. My old faucet had these annoying plastic nuts that were a pain to get off, but I finally wrestled them loose with some pliers.
With the old faucet out, I gave the sink area a good cleaning. There was some gunk built up around the old faucet base, so I scrubbed that away with a sponge and some cleaner.
Now for the fun part – installing the new faucet! I carefully placed the new faucet’s base plate over the sink holes, making sure it was lined up straight. Then, from underneath, I attached the mounting hardware. This time, it was much easier – nice, solid metal nuts that I could tighten with a wrench. Felt way more secure.
Next up, connecting the water supply lines. I made sure to wrap some thread seal tape (the white stuff plumbers use) around the threads of the faucet’s supply lines before screwing them onto the shut-off valves. This helps prevent leaks.
Once everything was connected, I slowly turned the water supply back on, checking for leaks. I held my breath…and…success! No drips! I turned the faucet on and off a few times, testing both hot and cold, just to make sure everything was working properly.
The tools I used in this installation are:
- Adjustable wrench
- Basin wrench(helpfully)
- Pliers
- Plumber’s putty
- Bucket and rags(to control and clean the water)
And that’s it! My new top-mount kitchen faucet is installed, and it looks (and works) so much better than the old one. I’m pretty proud of myself – another DIY project in the books!