Faucet Repair in Vancouver
A dripping tap is almost never worn out as a whole. One part inside it has failed — usually a cartridge or a seat washer — and replacing that part costs a fraction of a new faucet, provided the part is still made.
Diagnosing a drip by cartridge type
Where it drips tells you what has failed. Water from the spout with the handle off is the cartridge or the seat. Water from around the base of the handle is the O-rings on the cartridge stem. Water under the sink is a supply connection or the body itself, and that last one is the only case where the faucet is genuinely finished.
Mechanism matters too. A single-lever mixer uses a cartridge — ceramic disc on anything modern. Two-handle taps use either compression washers, which are the traditional design and very repairable, or ceramic stems. Ceramic discs generally fail from grit scoring the faces rather than from wear, which is why a drip can appear suddenly after work on the water main.
Parts availability by brand
This is what actually decides repair versus replace. The major North American brands support their products for a long time and cartridges are widely stocked, often with lifetime parts warranties you can claim directly. That turns a drip into a cheap fix.
Imported and own-brand faucets from big-box retailers are the difficult ones — the cartridge may be proprietary, unlabelled and unavailable within a few years of the model being discontinued. If you cannot identify the brand, photograph the faucet and any marking under the handle or on the escutcheon and we will tell you before the visit whether parts are realistic.
Hard water and aerator scaling
Metro Vancouver water is soft, which is genuinely good news for plumbing — we see far less scale here than most of Canada. What still accumulates is grit and sediment, particularly after mains work in the street or after a building's water has been shut off and restored.
That sediment collects first in the aerator at the tip of the spout, and a suddenly weak stream from one tap is almost always this. Unscrew it, rinse the screen, refit. It takes two minutes and it resolves the majority of "low pressure" complaints, which are usually one-tap problems rather than pressure problems at all.
When replacing costs less than repairing
Repair wins when the parts exist and the faucet is decent — a good cartridge is cheap and the labour is short. Replacement wins when parts are unavailable, when the body is corroded or cracked, when the finish has failed, or when you have already repaired it twice.
Be honest about the second visit. If a cheap faucet has needed two cartridges in three years, a third cartridge is not the answer. Work on existing fixtures like this is like-for-like maintenance, so we handle it ourselves at $145 an hour rather than at the licensed trade rate.
What this costs
$370–$2,600 for most callouts
Performed by a licensed subcontractor at $185/hr with a two-hour minimum. Fixture swaps sit at the bottom of the range; re-piping a vanity or relocating a supply sits at the top. Permit-gated work is quoted separately.
Materials are always separate from labour and passed on at cost. Quotes are free and written, and the full rate card is published rather than given out on request.
Common questions
Is a dripping faucet worth repairing?
Usually yes, if the parts exist. A cartridge is cheap and the labour is short, and the major North American brands stock parts for years — often under a lifetime warranty you can claim yourself. Replacement makes more sense when the body is corroded, the finish has failed, parts are unobtainable, or you have already repaired it twice.
How do I know which cartridge I need?
Photograph the faucet, the underside of the handle and any marking on the escutcheon, and send them with your enquiry. Brand and model identify the cartridge. Where a faucet is unbranded — common with own-brand big-box units — parts may simply not exist any more, and it is much better to know that before we arrive than after.
Why is my water pressure suddenly low?
If it is one tap, it is almost certainly the aerator at the tip of the spout, clogged with sediment — unscrew it, rinse the screen, refit. That resolves most low-pressure complaints. If every tap in the house dropped at once, that is a different problem and worth investigating properly rather than cleaning aerators.