Toilet repair and installation
The other fixture in the room, usually done in the same visit.
Learn moreFixtures
Faucet and fixture installation: the work you notice every single day
Fixtures are the plumbing you actually touch. A cartridge worn out by hard water, a supply stop that will not close, a sink drain assembled without a proper trap, small things, and they are the ones that annoy you every morning.
Lines are open right now:
(833) 472-2088
Dripping tap? Usually a cartridge and a short visit.
Cartridges, not whole taps
Most drips are a repair, not a replacement.
Stops replaced too
A shut-off that works is half the value.
Hard water is the cause
Scale is what kills fixtures early here.
Sink and drain together
Trap and tailpiece done properly, not improvised.
Symptoms
Six faults, and whether they are a part or a fixture
A dripping spout. The cartridge or the seats and springs inside it. On mainstream brands this is an inexpensive part and a short visit, and it is worth doing before the drip wears a mark into the sink.
Weeping around the base or the handle. O-rings or the cartridge body seals. The water often runs back under the sink rather than into it, which is how a small fault becomes a swollen cabinet base.
Poor flow from one tap only. A blocked aerator, nine times out of ten, and it is the cheapest fix in plumbing. Otherwise a partly closed supply stop or a blocked cartridge screen.
A handle that is stiff, loose or spins. Mineral in the cartridge, a stripped handle adaptor, or a broken cartridge stem.
A sprayer or pull-down that leaks or will not retract. The hose, the diverter or the weight. Usually replaceable parts on current models.
Water under the sink. Supply connection, drain tailpiece, trap joint, or the sink rim seal. Worth finding precisely because the drain and the supply have entirely different repairs.
Hard water is why fixtures fail early here
Across most of southern and eastern Idaho, scale is what wears cartridges, blocks aerators and seizes handles. Cleaning aerators a couple of times a year genuinely extends fixture life, and where a house is eating cartridges the underlying answer may be treatment rather than better taps. See water softener installation.
Several fixtures at once costs far less than separate calls.
The decision
When a cartridge is the answer and when the tap comes off
Repair makes sense on a decent-quality faucet from a brand with parts availability. Cartridges, seats and springs, O-rings, aerators, sprayer hoses and diverters are all stocked items, and many manufacturers back their cartridges with long warranties. A twenty-minute cartridge swap on a good faucet is far better value than a new fixture.
Replacement is the answer where the body is cracked or corroded through, where the finish has failed and pitted, where the fixture is an unbranded import with no parts available, or where the tap has been repaired twice already. It is also the answer when what you actually want is a different fixture, a pull-down instead of a side sprayer, a taller spout, a single handle instead of two.
Finish and construction, honestly. Solid brass bodies with ceramic disc cartridges last. Plastic-bodied budget fixtures with proprietary parts do not, and they are the ones we get called back to. Spending moderately on a mainstream fixture is one of the better value decisions in a bathroom.
Configuration matters before ordering. Hole count and spacing on the sink or deck, single hole, four-inch centreset, eight-inch widespread, or wall mount. A widespread faucet does not fit a single-hole sink without a deck plate, and a vessel sink needs a spout tall enough to clear the rim.
Touchless and filtered taps. Sensor faucets need power, either batteries or a transformer under the sink. Dedicated filtered water taps need a filter location and a drain for reverse osmosis units. Both are simple to include if planned and irritating to retrofit. See whole house water filtration.
Accessibility. Lever handles rather than knobs, single-handle mixers, and spouts that reach where you need them. Small choices that matter enormously for older residents and anyone with limited grip.
Below the deck
The half of the job nobody looks at
Supply stops. The valves under the sink. Old multi-turn stops seize, weep at the packing, or will not fully close, which turns any future fixture repair into a whole-house shut-off. Quarter-turn ball stops get fitted as standard on our fixture work and it is the single most useful upgrade under a sink.
Braided connectors. They have a service life and they are a known cause of catastrophic water damage when they fail. New ones on every fixture installation, correctly routed without kinks.
Trap and tailpiece. A proper P-trap at the right height with correct fall and no flexible corrugated hose, which we find under a lot of sinks. Corrugated traps catch debris, block constantly and are not a substitute for correctly assembled tubular waste.
Venting. A fixture that gurgles or drains slowly with nothing blocked may not be properly vented, a common outcome of kitchen island installations and DIY remodels. Air admittance valves have their place where allowed, and a real vent is better.
Sink installation. Undermount, drop-in, farmhouse and vessel each mount differently, and undermount and farmhouse sinks in particular depend on the countertop and its support. Sealing the rim properly is what stops the slow leak that swells a cabinet from the inside.
Garbage disposals. Fitted with the correct mounting, a proper discharge, dishwasher connection where relevant, and an air gap or high loop as required. See garbage disposal repair.
Cabinet damage. If the base is already swollen or soft from a long-term leak, say so up front, the fixture repair does not fix the cabinet, and the two jobs are best sequenced deliberately.
Supplying your own faucet? Send the model number first.
Bigger scopes
Refreshes, remodels and what plumbing they involve
A fixture refresh. New faucets, new stops, new connectors, new drain assemblies, sometimes new sinks. No walls opened, a day or less, and it changes how a bathroom feels more than almost anything else at that price.
Vanity replacement. Where the new vanity has a different footprint, the supply stops and the drain often need moving. That is a wall opening and it should be priced before demolition rather than discovered during it.
Kitchen sink relocation or an island sink. Drain, vent and supply all have to be run, and venting an island is the part that catches people out. It is a real plumbing project, not a swap.
Pot fillers, instant hot water taps and pantry sinks. All straightforward if planned into a remodel, all awkward afterwards.
Working with your other trades. Fixture work sits between the cabinet installer, the countertop fabricator and the tile setter, and the sequence matters: templates need the sink on site, undermount sinks are fitted before the counter goes on, and the plumbing final happens after the counter. We are used to that sequence and will say plainly what we need from whom.
Old houses. Two-handle wall-mount taps, unusual hole spacings, sinks with integral fittings and supply lines in odd positions. Occasionally a modern fixture simply does not fit a period sink, and the choice is a period-appropriate fixture or a different sink. Worth knowing before the tap is bought.
While the cabinet is empty. If old galvanized or corroded supply lines are visible under a sink, that is the cheapest moment to deal with them. See galvanized pipe replacement.
Practical advice
Bring your own fixture, or have us supply it
Customer-supplied fixtures. Perfectly normal and the plumber installs them regularly. Two honest caveats: the warranty on the fixture is between you and the manufacturer, and if a part is missing or the fixture does not fit the sink, the visit stalls. Send us the model number beforehand and most of that risk disappears.
What to check before buying. Hole count and spacing. Spout height and reach against the sink. Whether a deck plate is included. Whether the drain assembly is included, bathroom faucets often include a pop-up drain and kitchen ones rarely include a strainer. Valve type: ceramic disc cartridges are the durable choice.
Finishes. Chrome and brushed nickel are the most forgiving in hard water. Polished and matte black finishes show water spots quickly here, which is a lifestyle decision rather than a quality one.
What the plumber replaces as a matter of course. Supply stops, connectors and drain assemblies on a fixture installation. Reusing a fifteen-year-old stop on a new faucet is how a nice job becomes a call-back.
Multiple fixtures in one visit. Cheaper per fixture than separate calls. If you have three taps you have been meaning to sort out, do them together.
Rental properties. Durable, mainstream, parts-available fixtures with quarter-turn stops. It is the specification that costs least over ten years, and it is a different choice from what suits an owner-occupied bathroom.
Aerators. Worth cleaning twice a year in Idaho water. A blocked aerator is the most common cause of "my new faucet has no pressure", and it takes two minutes.
Old shut-offs that will not close are worth replacing now.
How it runs
A tidy visit with the stops replaced
Fixture work is quick when the parts fit, which is why the model number matters before the visit.
1. Confirm what fits
Hole spacing, spout reach, sink type and drain configuration checked, plus the condition of the existing supply stops and trap so nothing is a surprise on the day.
2. Fit or repair
Cartridge, aerator or seals on a repair. On an installation, new fixture set and sealed, new quarter-turn stops and braided connectors, and a properly assembled trap and tailpiece.
3. Test and clean up
Run hot and cold, check every joint under the sink under pressure, verify the drain flows without weeping, and take the old fixture and packaging away.
Coverage
Fixture work statewide
Faucet and sink work is dispatched across all 82 communities we serve. Hard water makes cartridge and aerator problems routine everywhere from the Treasure Valley to eastern Idaho, and older housing in Boise, Pocatello and Coeur d’Alene brings period sinks and unusual hole spacings that need checking before a fixture is bought.
Questions
Faucet and fixture questions
Usually, and cheaply. Most drips are a worn cartridge or seats and springs, and on mainstream brands the part is inexpensive and often covered by a long manufacturer warranty.
Replacement is the better answer where the body is corroded, the finish has pitted, or the fixture is an unbranded model with no parts available.
Yes, and plenty of customers do. Send the model number ahead so we can confirm it fits your sink and that the drain assembly is included or not.
The fixture warranty stays between you and the manufacturer. The main risk is a missing part or a hole-spacing mismatch discovered on the day, which a model number check almost always prevents.
A blocked aerator, nine times out of ten. In Idaho water they scale up and it takes two minutes to clear or replace.
If the aerator is clean, check the supply stop is fully open, then look at the cartridge screens. A whole-house pressure problem shows up at every fixture, not one.
As standard on any fixture installation, and we recommend it on repairs. Old multi-turn stops seize, weep or fail to close fully, and that turns a simple future repair into a house-wide shut-off.
Quarter-turn ball stops are inexpensive, they work, and they are the difference between a controlled repair and a mess.
Around an hour for a straightforward replacement including new stops and connectors. Longer for a widespread faucet, an awkward cabinet, a seized old fixture or a sink that also needs its drain assembly replaced.
Multiple fixtures in one visit are considerably cheaper per fixture than separate calls.
Chrome and brushed nickel are the most forgiving, spots and scale show least and wipe off easily. Polished finishes and matte black look striking and show every drop, which in Idaho water means daily wiping.
The important durability question is the valve, not the finish: ceramic disc cartridges in a solid brass body are what makes a fixture last.
The leak can, and we will find and repair it. The cabinet itself is carpentry rather than plumbing, and a swollen particleboard base generally does not recover.
It is worth sequencing deliberately: fix the plumbing, dry the cabinet out, then decide whether the base needs replacing. And if the leak has been running a while, check the floor beneath it too.
Yes, and both are real plumbing projects rather than swaps. Supply, drain and vent all have to be run, and island sinks in particular need a proper venting solution.
It is best done as part of a remodel where the cabinets and floor are open. Priced after seeing the space, because what is under the floor determines most of the work.
Water under the cabinet needs finding before it spreads.
The plumbing you touch every day
Mainstream fixtures, new stops and connectors, and a trap assembled properly. Call any hour, anywhere in Idaho.
(833) 472-2088