Should I do this DIY myself or get someone

[Bluewaterloo]

I need to replace a leaking kitchen tap. I tried to get a plumber twice over the past month but they were no shows.

I checked online on videos on how to shut off the water and disconnect the fittings and old tap.

And how to instal a new tap.

I bought a tap from Amazon and waiting for delivery. I will have to order some more tools.

I don't feel in any way confident doing this myself. Even with videos.

My only apprenshion is will the new fittings fit my current how and water pipe fittings. I do t know what fittings I have under the kitchen sink. Do you know female/male threads. This is the only thing that's holding me back.

I do t want to take out the old tap to discover that the new fittings won't go in.

Should it I continue calling plumbers or find a handyman or should I take a chance with this myself.

I'm not usually nervous. I did some jobs this year and starting off I was nervous like changing a lock in a door. I got that job complete but it took me a few days.

The issue is here - is that the sink in the kitchen at home in my mother's house, the tap is leaking. She ignored it. I am nervous now that this has to be addressed asap.
I had two plumbers booked but they were no shows.

I would like to try and book a handyman but i am anxious about my mother's reaction. She really is an odd old woman. She becomes nervous thinking people workers are out to abuse her.

I am in a difficult situation. She will not sort it out. She won't even let me try it. I would like to have supplies sorted - new tap and tools and get her out from the house and just do it.

I am nervous in case I don't have the right supplies.

She is not respecting the leak that is happening and she is refusing to minimise the usage of the sink and tap by making so many excuses.

I would be able to wait it out a month if she was to carry her activities into the bathroom. We have a doshwash that she will hardly use because her preferable is handwashing. She leaves the tap on when brushing her teeth. She turns the tap on again when she filling the kettle but she leaves it running for a few minutes in case the water is dirty and she likes it to run clear. It's all bull crap and nerve wrecking.

I posted on a trade site but I am not holding out much hope for anyone to get back to me.

I could try a local Facebook group.

@pigletjohn

I can't quite see the join on the left as there is so much limescale, but the join on the right is definitely a female, so chances are the one on the left is too.

If it's not, it's not a big deal, you can get adapters at any diy store. Don't worry about the supports, you won't need them with flexible hoses like the ones on your new tap.

TBH the only difficult thing about changing a tap is to tighten it when there is no room under the sink, the rest is straightforward. The flexible joins will likely have an o ring so won't need teflon tape, just tightening on. Do clean the limescale off the join before you put them on though. And reattach the earth lower down.

If you are worried about not having the right joins then just order an MM connector, you can always send it back if it turns out to be unnecessary. Have you checked the size of the joins?

I would try asking on FB. Usually the responses are good on there.
It's a small job for a plumber hence the no shows, but a local handyman might be able to help. 😊

Thank you for your reply and this is a huge help.

Would a flexitail that has a female thread pipe end fit to a female thread as shown here?

I think I can order a selection of adapters.

I am not concerned about supporting the flexitails to a wall. I won't be doing that.

I asked on a Facebook group with no replies. I asked for a handyman

Personally I would take the 2 flexi pipe to screw fix/ plumbers merchant and get new fixings to go to the existing copper it looks like 15mm
make sure the flexi pipes are tight on the tap before it’s put back in the hole you won’t be able to get to them afterwards
plenty of PTFE tape as a pp said and relocate the earth wire below the existing fittings
the nut/screw that holds the tap to the sink can be a bugger to get to and tighten so a small adjustable spanner can be useful
start early so if it goes wrong you can get bits if you need to
good luck hope it goes well 👍👍👍

Agree, good luck and hope it goes well. Planning and patience can count for a lot.

A few years back I took my vacuum cleaner apart thinking I needed to replace the motor. Found a video that showed how to replace the brushes and thought I might as well try disassembling the motor to see if that was the problem. And indeed for only a few pounds for the brushes I had it fixed. It was terrifically satisfying.

I hope next week you're able to post back similar success.

Should I order spare parts of this kind of stuff in case I need them for the job. I suspect I don't need to go down that deep and it's just where I have the green arrows here where I need to dismantle the plumbing to take out the old tap.

I wasn't confident of the Amazon tap and it's fittings so I bought another tap from a hardware shop and so hopefully the fittings from one or the other will fit and whatever I don't use I will return next week.

Something else:

Will it be easy to dismantle the bolts holding the earth wire?

Will I relocate them to down lower to the lower copper pipes after installing the new tap?
Can I use cable ties for this?

My goal for now is to stop the leak and any further wet damage to the counter top.

Should I spray WD40 on the bolt to lubricate it before lossen the pipes from the tap.

Yes, green arrows are where you need to dismantle it. Bolts should come out fine, no reason they wouldn't. So long as the earth is touching metal, it doesn't matter too much how you attach it, I suspect it's just wrapped around. I wouldn't bother with wd40, if it's hard to turn you can try heating it a bit.

I've done it! If you need any help with fittings, like if you need an adapter, just go to a hardware store and they will figure it out for you. I do this kind of stuff all the time and don't know what I'm doing. Make sure you get the tape that winds around the threads.

I replaced our kitchen tap myself during COVID. It was awkward but only because we were replacing a German tap with a British one so the fittings were different sizes. I should think if you weren't doing this it would be quite easy. You tube videos are great.

No harm in trying. You aren't messing with anything dangerous so if it goes tits up it will all be fixable.

I need help again. I haven't started the work yet.

I know how to turn off the water at the mains. I know that will turn off the cold water coming into the house. Will that turn off the hot water or the water coming into the hot tap?

I am not able to identify any isolation values to the pipes under the tap.

Bearing in mind how much mess a water leak can cause - believe me I know from bitter experience - and that you don't know what you are doing, I would carry on and try to get a plumber in. Even if you do know what you are doing, it's awfully easy to get a seep/leak that you just can't sort out - again I know from experience! Go to a plumbers merchants( not the diy places) and ask them for a recommendation. You might even be able to find a lady plumber, which could help with your Mums reticence about workmen in the house.

I tried to get a plumber but I could get one. I know my mother like the back of my hand. She will have no respect for a female plumber because they are only just a woman and what would they no. That's not my stance at all but my mother has no respect for anyone.

I know I don't know what I am doing but I had a look under my kitchen sink and it doesn't look too bad under there. I had a look at YouTube videos. I studied under the sink once more.

These are my steps:

• I need to turn off the mains water.
• Turn on the taps in the bathroom to drain the tank.
• unscrew the earth wire
• unscrew the upper bolts under the sink
• unscrew the bolts under the tap

Remove tap

Then watch videos and read the instructions to the new tap to put it in.

It shouldn't be too hard.

An issue is that I have an old mother who is just odd as fuck and trying to appease her to reduce her old age rage.
She's actually living in a way for social services to get involved. She's utterly apathetic with sorting anything out.

OK, you're going to do it yourself. If you're lucky, you might find that you don't have to drain the tanks because a bright spark plumber in the past just may have put stop cocks on the feed from the tanks, all you e got to do is find them and hope they're not seized. My house is like this. Also, my taps have been installed with stop valves on their feed pipes, and it is something you might like to consider installing whilst you've got the water off anyway. Good luck!

I had to get plumbing work done in the bathroom before and the plumber never drained the tank for that. He just pulled a lever to stop the mains that was in the airing cupboard.

I don't have any isolation valves bought to install them. My goal right now is to stop the leak and stop the flooding that's happening from the tap. So I never considered installing more componenets. I guess that can be done another time though.

Well, yes you could install them another time, but you"ll need to disassemble the tap connections you're just about to do, hence my suggestion to fit them at the same time.

Kitchen sink taps are particularly awkward because they are behind the sink znd against the wall. Unless you have four hands, and fingers two foot long, it is easiest to take the sink off, turn it upside down, and fit the tap, then connect to the pipes when you have put the sink back. It is essential to turn the water off at the stopcock and run both taps dry before you start.

You might do better to dismantle the tap from above, take out the ceramic cartridges, and order new ones to replace them. Plumbers merchants hold a reasonable range, but unbranded imported taps may be peculiar. Once you know what you need, tap specialists like Lynn's can match it.

The PTFE tape is a seal. It is not put on the threads of a joint. It is put on the olive, which is a brass or copper ring that is squeezed between the compression nit, the pipe, and the olive-shaped recess in the fitting.

The bonding wires can go anywhere on the two pipes (plumbers mistakenly think it is an electrical requirement, but it is just an old plumbers tradition). The incoming cold water supply is supposed to be bonded to the earth connection where it enters the house.

Frankly, if you are a beginner of any sex, and have not started out with some easier plumbing, and worked your way up to it, I would not start with a sink tap. You will probably get it half-way apart, with water running down the wall, and be unable to get it back together.

Try to find a local professional plumber, preferably a wrinkly old person with blue overalls. Ask friends and neighbours for a recommendation. Look in the parish magazine for somebody who has been advertising for years. Ask at the gardening club or the community centre. Ask at the plumbers merchant. Ask other building trades if you know any.

Semi-retired people often like these little jobs.

"Which Local" is a good source.

If you have ample funds, a gas boiler person can do it, if they can be bothered.

Online searches are a very poor way. The websites that charge the trader are advertising sites, not recommendation sites. If there is a freephone number, or a non-local number, do not use it.

"Lunns"

(Autocorrected wrong)