Negligence, Incompetence or Something Else?

[VFN]

Bathroom faucet was leaking through the cold handle. Plumber came and now the hot handle is tight and squeaks. Would like to hear thoughts on this from someone who knows.
Thanks, V

 

[Jeff Handy]

Post good pics of the faucet.

Minerals might have broken loose while the water was off, or while wrenching on the cold side, the vibrations could have loosened minerals on the hot side.

He may have also found a drip from the hot, and tightened something up.

Contact the plumber, don’t point any fingers yet.

 

[VFN]

The hot water handle is much tighter than the left, which alone demonstrates shoddy workmanship to me. It's a simple Delta faucet.

 

[Jeff Handy]

You have already decided plumber is guilty.
You have not allowed for the “something else”, which is wrong.

 

[Jeff Handy]

Post pic of faucet, and call plumber to complain, in a nice way.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Post a pic of the invoice. Believe me, I know......

 

[VFN]

Leaving the repair with one handle almost too loose (feels like it has unnecessary play) and the other almost too tight and squeaking (which I suspect he may not of heard as it's muffled when the water is running) is pretty good grounds to accuse him of poor workmanship I'd say. I don't have the invoice (the repair was at a friend's) but I don't need one to know both handles were worked on. The attached pic is what the faucet looks like.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Ok, so your “ friend “ should call the guy back.....what’s the big deal ?

I’m sorry I’m not outraged....

 

[Twowaxhack]

Post the invoice when you get it.....I’d love to read it.

Just for fun......Please....?

 

[VFN]

I'll post the invoice if i can.

 

[Jeff Handy]

Also please post the resolution after plumber or someone else fixes it all up.

 

[Stout Mechanical]

The hot water handle is much tighter than the left, which

And you know his work was shoddy? Perhaps he was working with shoddy plumbing

 

[pakle]

I have widespread bathroom faucets on 4 bathroom sinks (not Delta brand). Of the 8 handles, most are a bit 'hard to turn', half squeak when turning, and none leak. I've been told it's the cartridge and the manufacturer sent me new ones as well as a cartridge-removal tool. The handle is easy enough to remove but even with the cartridge-removal tool, it can't loosen the cartridge. So I had the manufacturer ship me a bunch of new handles which unfortunately already have the cartridge pre-installed. Those new handles were not much better in terms of being easier to turn and squeak. It's been over 5 yrs, I've learned to live with it. I'll take the squeaking over leaking.

I suspect they don't lubricate the cartridges (enough) before putting them in the handles at the factory, but unfortunately my handyman is not able to remove just the cartridge with their tool or any other tool.

 

[Jeff Handy]

pakle, this won’t fix your issue, but I and many others on here have learned to goop the heck out of cartridges, washers, screws, etc, and also the faucet or valve body, when doing a rebuild.

Not a giant glob, but give everything a thin but thorough coating.

It makes parts go in easier, maybe last longer, quieter, less corrosion, and definitely easier to yank out years later.

Plumbers’ silicone grease is your friend.

 

[pakle]

pakle, this won’t fix your issue, but I and many others on here have learned to goop the heck out of cartridges, washers, screws, etc, and also the faucet or valve body, when doing a rebuild.

Not a giant glob, but give everything a thin but thorough coating.

It makes parts go in easier, maybe last longer, quieter, less corrosion, and definitely easier to yank out years later.

Plumbers’ silicone grease is your friend.

Thank you for the reminder. I've had terrible luck over the years with fixtures having under-lubricated parts out of the factory. In addition to almost all 8 of my bathroom faucet cartridges, my Moen shower trim handle was hard to turn since day 1 and I got Moen to send me a replacement cartridge. I think those are also pre-installed on the valve at the factory? When the handyman replaced that, I made sure he lubricated the heck out of it with the supplied silicone grease. Silky smooth now. I wrote about my kitchen faucet previously that was under-lubricated at the swivel/spout and very difficult to turn and Pfister sent me another that is better. Not as smooth as my previous kitchen faucet but that area is not user-serviceable so it'll have to do. This is now the first thing I check for when buying fixtures.