Your Faucet Won't Stop Dripping — and That Drip Has a Price Tag

You know that tiny "drip… drip… drip" from the kitchen sink at 2 AM? It's not annoying — it's expensive. One drop per second can waste over 3,000 GALLONS of water a year. That's thousands of gallons you're paying for and never using.

Why it happens HERE

1. 🪨 FLORIDA WATER IS HARD — mineral buildup eats through washers and cartridges faster than you'd expect. What lasts 10 years up north can give up in 3-4 summers here.

1. 🔩 Cartridges wear out, not the whole faucet — most drips are one small worn part inside: the cartridge, a washer, or an O-ring. The faucet itself is usually fine.

1. 🚰 Corrosion loves the shut-offs — the little valves under your sink that stop the water. In Florida humidity they seize up, and if you can't shut the water off, you can't fix anything safely.

What you can try yourself

• Turn the handle HARDER first — no, kidding, never do that. It cracks the seat and makes the drip worse.
• Find the brand (Moen, Delta, Kohler — usually on the faucet) and buy the matching cartridge — a $15 part fixes most drips
• Turn off the shut-off valves under the sink before you touch anything — if they won't budge, stop there
• Take a photo of the old cartridge before removing it — 50% of "mystery leaks" are the wrong replacement part

Where DIY ends

• If the shut-off valves are seized or drip when you touch them — you need the water stopped properly before anything else
• If the inside of the faucet is corroded green or the handle spins freely — the body may be done, not just the cartridge
• If you see water staining inside the cabinet under the sink — the leak is bigger than the drip, and it needs eyes on it

Honest pricing: a cartridge swap plus checking the supply lines is usually a first-hour job ($80). If seized shut-off valves need replacing too, I'll tell you the exact price upfront before I touch a wrench. And yes — even a faucet handle that needs a part is worth one visit instead of three hardware-store runs.

⚠️ That drip is also a WARNING SIGN. A faucet that won't seal today is the same faucet that bursts a seal at 3 AM tomorrow. The drip you ignore in October is the flooded cabinet you pay for in November.