A kitchen faucet had been dripping for weeks, and by the time we arrived there was a water stain on the basement ceiling below the sink. The homeowner wanted the faucet replaced. The visit also turned up a shared shutoff valve, an old valve that didn't need replacing, and a hardness result worth discussing separately from the repair.
Where the leak was
The faucet was about ten years old and dripped steadily, worse in the cold position than the hot. The homeowner had already replaced the valve under the sink, and that hadn't fixed it. Under the cabinet, the leak traced back to where the hot and cold lines met the cartridge inside the faucet body, along with a small push-connect fitting that was visibly weeping. By the time we arrived, the leak had likely been dripping for about three weeks. The ceiling stain showed water had reached the room below, but it couldn't tell us when the leak began.
Slow leaks under a sink can run down the back of a cabinet and show up elsewhere. An occasional look for damp wood, staining or a drip at a fitting can help you spot trouble before more water collects.
Repair the faucet or replace it?
It can make sense to repair leaky faucet connections or replace a worn cartridge when the faucet body is sound and the correct parts are available. Replacement becomes more reasonable when the body is corroded, parts are hard to find, several components need work, or you wanted a new faucet anyway, as this homeowner did.
Visible deposits can justify a hardness check alongside the repair. That result helps with a maintenance or treatment discussion, but it doesn't establish why a particular cartridge leaked. Our fixture repair service covers repair and replacement.
Two shutoffs instead of one
The home had a single dual-outlet valve feeding both the faucet and the dishwasher, so shutting off one meant shutting off both. We recommended replacing it with two individual quarter-turn shutoffs, one for the faucet and one for the dishwasher. The next time either needs work, the other keeps running.
The other 30-year-old valve we left alone
The separate hot-water shutoff was about 30 years old. It wasn't the dual-outlet valve feeding the faucet and dishwasher. The homeowner wanted it replaced because of its age. When we tested it, it turned smoothly and sealed properly. We recommended leaving it in place, which took a significant part off the estimate. Its age alone wasn't a reason to replace a valve that passed the check.
What the water test showed
The on-site test measured hardness at 5.1 grains per gallon. We also checked total dissolved solids (TDS). For homes on public water, the utility's annual report summarizes the system. An in-home test captures conditions at one tap on one day.
Hardness can contribute to mineral deposits, especially when water is heated, as the USGS explanation of water hardness describes. This reading didn't prove that scale caused the faucet leak or that the home needed a softener. If hardness reduction fits the measured conditions and the household's goals, our water treatment service considers flow, demand and maintenance before recommending equipment.
TDS is a different measurement. It estimates dissolved minerals and salts from conductivity, and it can't tell you whether a specific contaminant is present. PFAS can't be measured on site at all. It takes a sample sent to a certified laboratory, which we can arrange. If a lab finds PFAS, a point-of-use reverse osmosis system certified for the compounds it found may be one option, chosen from the lab numbers rather than assumptions.
What got done
We replaced the faucet with the new one the homeowner had bought, installed the two separate shutoffs, left the old hot-water valve in place, and ran the on-site test for hardness and TDS. We also flagged the ceiling stain to watch for two weeks before any cosmetic repair, to make sure the leak was fully resolved. The work took a couple of hours, including shutting down and draining the lines, refilling, and checking every fixture afterward for sediment knocked loose along the way.
When to ask about an on-site water test
Jeneral Plumbing is based in Westford, MA and serves homes across Middlesex & Worcester County. A regular-hours visit carries an $80 dispatch fee — the cost of the visit, waived when you hire us for the work. When we're already at your home for a visit, the on-site water test is free. We don't make a separate trip for a free test. Call (978) 392-7789 about a leaking faucet, aging shutoffs or scale buildup, and we'll explain what the inspection supports.
Written by Jeneral Plumbing.
This article was drafted with AI writing tools and edited before publication. AI tools did not inspect any job or validate technical conclusions.
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