Faucet leak

[Carolina girl 73]

Hello! New member here so I hope I’m posting this question in the right place. We had a tub faucet leak on an old faucet. It was a super slow drip so called a local plumber. He came in and said a number of things was the cause and he would fix it. Cost a pretty penny. Well with the fixes which included a new faucet, it’s leaking more than before. Now water is coming coming out of the faucet and the hole where the screw goes underneath the faucet. I had him comeback and he said all this is happening because our water pressure is too high.

I question whether this is true or not because we had the old one for 13 years and it only started leaking this past Sun. I wanted to see if anyone else could advise if this sounds right or do I need to take matters further. I attached a video of the issue which shows the shower on but the faucet is leaking even when shower isn’t on.

Thanks!!

 

[havasu]

I suspect he charged you a pretty penny after his great sales pitch. If he is concerned about your water pressure, surely he tested your pressure. What pressure did he say it was?

I see alot of water potentially flowing behind your wall. I'd shut off the water to the house and have him get his butt back over there to really fix this issue.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I would have to know what your pressure actually is to know if it’s too high. It’s possible.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

I suspect he charged you a pretty penny after his great sales pitch. If he is concerned about your water pressure, surely he tested your pressure. What pressure did he say it was?

I see alot of water potentially flowing behind your wall. I'd shut off the water to the house and have him get his butt back over there to really fix this issue.

Thank you for responding! He did not say what the water pressure was. He said it “looked l like the water pressure was high while was running the shower to show him my concerns at his second visit. He said in order to turn the pressure down he would have to go outside and dig down to something. Said it would cost around $600 to do that and cut the sheetrock behind this tub faucet to fix the issue. I just couldn’t believe that after being in this home for the last 12 years that the water pressure would become an issue all of a sudden?

 

[Carolina girl 73]

I would have to know what your pressure actually is to know if it’s too high. It’s possible.

Thank you for responding! I will have to see if I can figure that out I guess. Maybe our water company can help me get that answer.

 

[Twowaxhack]

You can buy a pressure gauge that screws onto a hose faucet but it needs to be checked inside the home to be sure you’re getting the correct pressure reading that the inside of the home is seeing.

A washing machine hose bibb is a great place to screw the gauge.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

You can buy a pressure gauge that screws onto a hose faucet but it needs to be checked inside the home to be sure you’re getting the correct pressure reading that the inside of the home is seeing.

A washing machine hose bibb is a great place to screw the gauge.

Ok. Thank you!!

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

How did you find this plumber in the first place? If it was on one of the on-line services like Angi, etc., you can possibly start a discussion there.

I suspect that every time he comes out there to redo his work, etc., he will find additional items that you need to throw more money at. If it were me, I'd cut my losses and find someone that is trustworthy.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[MicEd69]

What style faucet was replaced? Is it a single handle or two handle faucet? And can you show a picture of it?

And do you know where your water supply enters your house? Do you have a basement?

 

[Twowaxhack]

Thank you for responding! He did not say what the water pressure was. He said it “looked l like the water pressure was high while was running the shower to show him my concerns at his second visit. He said in order to turn the pressure down he would have to go outside and dig down to something. Said it would cost around $600 to do that and cut the sheetrock behind this tub faucet to fix the issue. I just couldn’t believe that after being in this home for the last 12 years that the water pressure would become an issue all of a sudden?

If he made a second trip and did not correct the leak and claimed your water pressure was high but didn’t actually check the water pressure then this is how I would proceed.

Get a gauge and check your water pressure from the washing machine valve. If it’s below 80 psi then I’d ask for a total refund and call a different plumber.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

How did you find this plumber in the first place? If it was on one of the on-line services like Angi, etc., you can possibly start a discussion there.

I suspect that every time he comes out there to redo his work, etc., he will find additional items that you need to throw more money at. If it were me, I'd cut my losses and find someone that is trustworthy.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thank you! We have a neighborhood social media page and some recommended him. Ugh!

 

[Carolina girl 73]

If he made a second trip and did not correct the leak and claimed your water pressure was high but didn’t actually check the water pressure then this is how I would proceed.

Get a gauge and check your water pressure from the washing machine valve. If it’s below 80 psi then I’d ask for a total refund and call a different plumber.

Thank you for the advice! I’m definitely going to follow up on this further.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

What style faucet was replaced? Is it a single handle or two handle faucet? And can you show a picture of it?

And do you know where your water supply enters your house? Do you have a basement?

It’s a single handle. He didn’t replace the faucet. Just the spout. He claimed he rebuilt the monitor/ shower valve. I’m not certain where the water enters our house but we don’t have a basement.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

So it’s actually the spout with the shower diverter that is leaking and not the faucet the controls the on/off/temp of the water? With the water turned off there is no flow or am I wrong?

 

[Carolina girl 73]

So it’s actually the spout with the shower diverter that is leaking and not the faucet the controls the on/off/temp of the water? With the water turned off there is no flow or am I wrong?

Yes. It’s just the spout. With the faucet turned off there is no water coming out of the spout.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

The spout is either a slip on affair with o-rings to seal against the stub pipe coming out of the wall or it is a screw-on affair. If there is a set screw in that hole at the back under the spout it’s probably the former and either the spout was installed improperly or when the old spout was removed he gouged or otherwise buggered the sealing surfaces hence the leak. I can’t imagine it is an over pressure situation but, rather, bad workmanship. As was mentioned earlier, running the shower is likely dumping water back into the wall behind the tile and will do nothing but damage.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

How did you find this plumber in the first place? If it was on one of the on-line services like Angi, etc., you can possibly start a discussion there.

I suspect that every time he comes out there to redo his work, etc., he will find additional items that you need to throw more money at. If it were me, I'd cut my losses and find someone that is trustworthy.

Good luck and keep us posted!

The spout is either a slip on affair with o-rings to seal against the stub pipe coming out of the wall or it is a screw-on affair. If there is a set screw in that hole at the back under the spout it’s probably the former and either the spout was installed improperly or when the old spout was removed he gouged or otherwise buggered the sealing surfaces hence the leak. I can’t imagine it is an over pressure situation but, rather, bad workmanship. As was mentioned earlier, running the shower is likely dumping water back into the wall behind the tile and will do nothing but damage.

Thank you!! I was able to speak with a local plumber through a family friend that told us not to use this tub at all until this gets repaired so that info lines up with what you are saying here. I’m going to contact the company office first thing tomorrow and file a complaint.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

Well the plan to reach out to the company won’t work as I expected because the person who worked on this repair is the owner based on the business license I found online.

We did test the water pressure on an outside bibb as we were too nervous to try the one for the washer last night and it read around 85. We are going to try the one for the washer tonight to see if it’s the same but I wanted to ask this question: If this plumber suspected that the water pressure being too high was an issue should he not have tested and addressed that first before rebuilding the monitor tub/shower valve and replacing the tub spout which he charged hundreds of dollars?

I feel like if the water pressure is an issue, it’s negligent of him not to test it first, not to test it at all, and to still leave the spout leaking water and telling me that it’s “fine” the way it is knowing it’s not and could lead to more damage with water going behind the walls over time.

If you guys don’t mind adding if you are a professional and/or licensed plumber in your response I would greatly appreciate that info because I think I may need to add that I sought the opinion of others before going after this guy to make me whole again. I do not want him doing anymore work in my home and plan to reach out to someone else to fix this mess at this point.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Sounds like you need to get your water pressure under control by any plumber of your choice and let the plumber repair the spout issue that originally installed the spout at no charge.

Do you have any damage ?

Did the spout leak the very first time you used it ? Things happen, maybe it didn’t leak when he tested it.

Water pressure is not always constant. Maybe when he tested your spout the pressure was much lower and didn’t leak.

 

[Carolina girl 73]

Sounds like you need to get your water pressure under control by any plumber of your choice and let the plumber repair the spout issue that originally installed the spout at no charge.

Do you have any damage ?

Did the spout leak the very first time you used it ? Things happen, maybe it didn’t leak when he tested it.

Water pressure is not always constant. Maybe when he tested your spout the pressure was much lower and didn’t leak.

It did leak the very first time I used it and I reached out to him right away. That’s when he said “give it a little longer to see if it stops”. I tried it 2 more times that same evening and notified him first thing the next morning it was still happening. That’s when he came back the secon LC time and told me about the possible water pressure issue. Second time he was here he never touched it. Just automatically went to saying it was the water pressure but this leak is a major difference than what was going out of my old spout. The old spout was a single drip. Even overnight it had only accumulated maybe 4 ounces of water before this guy did this “repair”. Just doesn’t seem to be adding up to me.

I appreciate your response though!