If your faucet is leaking, broken or you just want to get rid of the 1970's brass faucet that's been in your house since the house was built, there's good news, you can replace the faucet with a new one. Replacing a faucet is fairly simple to do, but you have to have the right tools for the job. If you aren't very handy, or you don't even own tools, maybe this is a job you can leave to a professional plumber. Read on for instructions to replace the faucet yourself.

Find A Replacement Faucet

You need to find a replacement faucet that is similar to what you had before. You need to be sure the holes match up with the other holes you had and they are spaced properly. Take a quick measurement to see if you have a 4", 8", or a single mount faucet. Once you figure out what type of faucet you need to use, you can start with removing and replacing your faucet.

Remove The Old Faucet

Turn the water off to your faucet, the shutoff should be located below the sink, or just next to it. Once shut off, you can use a pipe wrench to remove the nuts on the bolts on the underside of the sink. Remove the nuts and then disconnect the incoming water supply hoses. Once removed, you should be able to pull up on the faucet to remove it from the space on your sink. If you are replacing the drain, you need to remove the drain assembly as well.

Clean Around The Sink/Faucet Area

Now is a good time to remove any grime or hard water that has built up around where your old faucet was located. If there was caulking, you should remove the old caulking using a scraper or a razor blade. The new faucet may not line up exactly where the old faucet was located, so you'll be happy you didn't skip this step, otherwise you'll have a ring where the old faucet was located.

Install The New Faucet

Install the new faucet using all of the parts that came with the new faucet. Use new bolts and nuts, as well as the new drain assembly parts. Attach the nuts to the bolts on the underside of the sink to mount it to your sink. Hook up the water supply hoses for both the hot and cold side, and reattach the drain, then turn your water back on. Turn the faucet on, checking both the hot and cold side to be sure you don't have any leaks. Tighten the bolts and the water supply lines if you have any water dripping. 

If you are tired of your old faucet, or you need a new one because the old one broke, replace the faucet with a brand new one yourself, or you can hire a pro, like those at Tonka  Plumbing Heating &  Cooling Inc and other locations, to do this for you.