Mrs. Fix It: How to change out your old bathroom faucets

Its been 4 years since we bought the house. Little by little we have been fixing things up and moving things around. Adding our own little touches here and there.  And its finally starting to feel like home.

Four years and I am just getting to the bathrooms. The walls are still white, but I have narrowed my options down on the boys new shower curtain and am rethinking the color scheme for the master bath. But I wanted to do something now.

I get antsy like that. I need to always be working on something or planning it. We knew it had to be something fairly cheap so we decided to start with replacing our old faucets. And who knew it would be such a great first step? It is like an instant update.

A friend of mine teased me, telling me that I was supposed to write the honey do list, not do it. But David will be the first to admit, its kinda my thing. Always has been. He brings home the bacon and the technology. And I fix things and put stuff together.

Last night after the boys went to bed, I swapped out their faucet and was just finishing up when David got home. About an hour and a half.  If I wasn't taking pictures, I would have gotten it done in half the time. Plus I had to take a break when I cleaned out the pipes.  Gag!

Is it really that easy? All I needed was a wrench and some silicone. Oh and I hammer and screw driver if you want to move things along faster.  I did.

Before you do anything, like a few hours before, clear out all the stuff you have collected under the sink and take a look at what you will be working with.  And lay down towels.  Or a pan to catch the water that will still be in the lines and trap.

When you are ready to go there is one very important step to take first. See these handles, turn them. Make sure that your water is turned off! Otherwise, you will get rained on and want to quit. Just saying, it can happen!

And to make things easier, see those white mounting nuts? Shoot them with a little WD-40 up top. That way when you come back in a few hours, they will turn easier. First unscrew the water lines. If the nuts are still hard to turn try tapping them with a screw driver and hammer.

Look at how awful this is. Gross. Slide the bar off by pinching the spring clip together and slide it right off them rod. When you replace this you will have to adjust it to your liking.  Depending on how high or low you want your lifter rod to be.

Now with everything disconnected from the faucet you can lift it on up and toss that baby in the trash. Clean up around the holes and set your new faucet and lifter rod down into the holes and line it up. Tighten the new faucet up from underneath by screwing on the mounting nuts. 

For a good while we were looking at all these super fancy faucets. Waterfalls sound good until you remember you have boys and you can imagine the mess their wild imaginations would get them into. Then we spotted these Peerless faucets in Walmart and learned that Peerless is a Delta Brand. They were a little under $50. Perfect for a quick but low cost make over.

Here is what you will find inside the box. Not only will you replace the faucet, but the pop up drain too.  Out with the old!

Back under the sink we go. Unscrew the slip nut and the tailpiece from the drain and toss that out. Maybe take a minute to look at how dirty it is and make a mental note to keep it cleaner from now on. Once you get the pop up drain and this tailpiece replaced its pretty much just putting everything back where it belongs. Don't forget to put silicone on the underside of the drain and the top of the rubber gasket. That way everything seals up tight.

The half way mark. You will have to take off the trap. This is the nasty hard part. This is when the towels you laid down earlier will come in handy. If you have a sensitive stomach, call your husband in. Or your worst enemy, because it can get pretty bad in these pipes. I took mine off, cleaned them out and then put them back together. I did not take pictures of that part. I would rather forget what I saw! Reconnect the stopper on to the rod with the spring clip and make sure all the connecting nuts are tight.

Reconnect the water lines. Make sure everything is on tight. Now all you have to do is turn the water back on, flush out the lines and voila!  Much better don't you think?

So there is my first step of my bathroom redo. Whats next? Paint.

I will share my shower curtain options with you once I get the paint up. Its a pretty neutral color so I have to narrow down my choices.  Since the boys are "big boys" now they want something more their style.  This could be dangerous.  

**Not all faucets are the same.  If you are installing your own faucet, first of all, HIGH FIVE!  You got this.  But be sure to ready your instructions just in case you have to take different steps!**