6 Things to Know Before Replacing a Kitchen Faucet
Before you start tearing apart your kitchen sink area to swap in a new, more stylish faucet, get to know the process and any obstacles that might slow you down.
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Has your old kitchen faucet seen better days? Whether yours is leaking water or is simply outdated, replacing a kitchen faucet is among the most popular do-it-yourself projects in the grand scheme of a full kitchen renovation.
不幸的是，它的声音并不总是简单，用一个时髦的拉丝镍表面交换一个旧的铬龙头。整个替换任务可能会没有挂钩，但由于龙头配置（和汇总条件）各不相同，因此在过程中将运行到障碍物中的机会。通过了解预期的内容 - 以及可能会出错的是什么 - 你可以避免常见的陷阱并识别何时扔进毛巾并叫水管工的时候。在这里，我们在开始厨房的龙头替换之前概述了六个必要的考虑因素。
1.在更换厨房的水龙头之前，请务必关闭水。
在工作开始之前，你必须关闭水到现有的水龙头。大部分时间都是肚带，通过简单地扭转位于热水和冷水供应线（龙头的下侧）上的阀门来完成，只使用手指“关闭”。
If your existing faucet is at least a few years old, it’s not unusual for the valves to be stuck or rusted, making them virtually impossible to budge. Applying heat to the valve with a hair dryer will often loosen the valve enough that you can close it. Alternately, use locking pliers to grab the valve and gently coax it to the Off position. Be aware, however, that excess twisting pressure could break the valve and/or the supply line, which will result in water shooting out and flooding the cabinet. For this reason, before you attempt to loosen a stuck shutoff valve, it’s a good idea to shut off your home’s main water valve (often located inside a basement or crawlspace where the water line enters the house).
如果您无法找到主阀门，您可以随时使用钳子关闭仪表的水（位于您的院子里，在小型的覆盖物下方的院子里）。
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2.删除旧的水龙头通常比听起来更棘手。
一旦离开水,去除旧水龙头a matter of loosening the nuts that hold it in place (from beneath the sink) and then lifting the faucet out of the holes. Unfortunately, this step can be easier said than done. The space under the sink where the faucet attaches is often narrow and, due to its location, pitch black. You’ll need a strong work light to illuminate the area and an adjustable wrench to loosen the nuts.
Like the shutoff valves, the nuts holding the faucet in place can be stuck or rusted. If you run into this problem, try brushing away as much corrosion as possible with a wire brush and then spraying penetration oil, such as液体扳手（可从中获取亚马逊），在坚果上有助于溶解腐蚀。它可能需要30分钟到过夜，以便石油工作。如果您尝试使用扳手再次松开螺母，并且它们仍然不会转动，它们将必须用往复锯或钢锯切断。一些蜜蜂opto选择了call a plumber这一点。
3. Spare your aching back with the help of scrap plywood.
Of all the repair projects you can undertake around your home—even the ones such as painting baseboards where you have to bend and stoop or cleaning out gutters where you have to climb and stretch—few of them are as uncomfortable as trying to wiggle into the confined space under a kitchen sink. In addition to crawling into the cabinet to see where the faucet attaches to the countertop, you’re also lying across an uneven surface: The inside floor of the cabinet is generally a few inches higher than the kitchen floor, so your back has to contort to the difference, which never feels good.
A little trick to ease the discomfort is to inserta small sheet of plywoodinside the cabinet. The sheet should be narrow enough to fit through the door’s opening, but wide enough to lay on and long enough to support your back and rear end. Use six to eight quart-size cans of paint (or cans of similar size) to support the end of the plywood sheet that extends out into the kitchen—that should give you a flat surface on which to lie as you replace the faucet.
4. Know your limits.
Sometimes, you simply can’t wedge your body far enough beneath the sink to have a clear path to reach the nuts holding the old faucet in place. When it looks like you’ll have to remove additional plumbing like the sink drain trap or the garbage disposal, what should be a two-hour faucet-replacement job can quickly turn into an entire weekend plumbing project. If you don’t have plumbing experience, it’s often better to call a plumber rather than attempting to remove and then reinstall additional plumbing elements.
有关：12 Things Your Plumber Wishes You Knew
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5. Choose the correct replacement faucet.
在您前往家居装修中心以便仅基于其形状和完成时购买水龙头，了解您当前的水槽硬件。这样做的最好方法是通过拆除它：随着旧的水龙头去除，可以记下水槽中的孔数以及左右孔中心之间的距离到右侧孔的中心。这被称为测量“中心（OC）”，是测量水槽孔的行业标准。孔的实际直径无关紧要。当你选择一个适合同孔的配置更换水龙头的安装会去的流畅。此外，随着旧的龙头去除，您甚至可以与您联系，以确保您获得完全匹配。
A typical, two-handle kitchen faucet installs over a set of three holes, with the two outside holes being eight inches apart. Updating to a stylish single-handle faucet that requires only one hole to install when you have three is still possible. For this, you’d need to purchase a separate base plate, called an “escutcheon plate,” that matches the finish of the new faucet and extends long enough to cover up the unused holes.
当您想要从一个手柄到两个，需要两个额外的孔时发生反向情况。在这种情况下，您可以在水槽（或在下面的台面，取决于您现有的水龙头配置）来容纳新的水龙头。请注意，这将项目移出了自己自己的类别，但是：在a中无聊的新孔花岗岩或石英水槽或台面应该由一个台面承包商来完成，他们有设备干净地钻孔，而不会破裂台面材料。
6.带上墙壁安装龙头的专业人士。
直接连接到水槽后面的墙壁的龙头是最新，最时尚的龙头，吸引那些想要旧世界上诉的人以及那些想要创造的人半专业厨师的厨房by installing a wall-mount faucet with a rotating and extending faucet arm. Unfortunately, this is one of the most involved replacements a homeowner can ask for. Making the switch from a sink-mounted (or countertop-mounted) faucet to a wall-mounted faucet involves opening up the wall behind the sink and running new water-supply lines—肯定是a job for a plumber. Not to mention, you’ll probably want to replace your old sink or countertop to get rid of the faucet holes left behind.
