This past weekend, it was decided that the half bath in the front of the house needed some sprucing up. The pedestal sink, while it looked nice, was frustrating because it offered no storage and the wire rack above the toilet look just wasn’t working. I realized that the faucet had likely been there since the home was built so had had ten years to sit there and get stuck. Even with replacing the sink and removing the old faucet, I wanted to salvage the old sink. For a Habitat for Humanity home it would be perfect so carefully removing the faucet was a priority. My mental list for the day’s project goes something as follows:
1. Turn off the water:
Obviously, this was the first thing that needed to be done. Thankfully, the water lines had proper shut off valves that were still willing to turn after ten years of not being moved. Had they not, I would have had to turn off the water from the water main.
2. Assemble the tools you need:
The next thing I needed to do was locate the proper tools that I was going to need for the job. For me, I like to be prepared for the worst so I rummaged through various tool chests and grabbed:
• Pipe Wrench
• Channel Lock style pliers
• Metal putty knife
• Small flathead screwdriver
3. Scout the project:
By knowing what you are dealing with, it makes the project go easier. I went through and noted what types of fittings were holding the water lines on and did a little scouting around the base of the faucet.
4. Unhook the water lines:
Because I was dealing with a pedestal sink, unhooking the water lines was much less of a going at it blind experience than previous faucet removal projects. I originally wanted to use my pipe wrench but realized that it wouldn’t fit and the channel locks barely fit. I was only able to turn the fitting a tiny bit before having to move the wrench.
5. Patience is key:
I actually had to take a moment during this process to calm down. I was getting frustrated! Between the snail’s pace due to the lack of space and the fact that those fittings hadn’t moved in ten years, it too much longer than it should. I kept telling myself to be patient and that it would be over soon enough.
6. Remove the nuts holding the faucet on:
Once the water lines are undone, the nut or nuts that hold the faucet to the sink can be undone. For the builder-grade faucet that I was dealing with, the metal was junk to begin with and was even more junk now. Rust had taken hold of both the flange and nut and I was concerned that they were permanently fused. Out came the penetrating oil. My normal modus operandi is to use WD-40 first then something stronger (that stains) should the WD-40 not do the trick. Luckily, the WD-40 worked as advertised. Getting the channel locks in to grab the nut was a bit of a challenge and they just barely fit but they did and the nut came off easier than the water hose fittings.
7. Don’t Panic:
As I was removing the nut from the flange on the bottom of the old faucet, I was beginning to panic. Normally at this point of faucet removal, there is at least a wiggle from the faucet and there was not. I kept my mantra of ten years old, ten years old going as I finished removing the nut from the flange knowing I can get around this hopefully small issue.
8. Work around the problem (literally):
After a valiant effort of tugging on the old faucet I realized that finesse was going to be the name of the game rather than brute force. I had expected this though and grabbed my small flathead screwdriver and metal putty knife. I started with the putty knife and slid it between the faucet and sink. It took some effort to get it through the seal but it did go. I repeated this for as much of the faucet as I could trying to break the ten year old seal between faucet and sink. After this, there was a little play in the faucet but it still wouldn’t move.
9. Time to Befriend Physics:
When I realized that the faucet was moving a little I decided it was time to up the ante. I grabbed the small screw driver and slid it in on top of the metal putty knife. The screwdriver became my lever and the metal putty knife was there to spread out the load and guarantee that I didn’t crack the sink. With some pushing and pulling the old faucet began to break free.
10. Finishing up:
Removal of the old faucet was easy from there. Lifting straight up, the sink came out but left parts of the gasket. I used the putty knife to scrape off most of the gasket then got a little more WD-40 to help finish the clean up.
