Ajax Plumbing LLC / Bentonville, VA · Faucet Installation
Bentonville Faucet Installation Valves checked, lines tested
A faucet swap sounds like a half-hour job until the shutoff under the sink refuses to close. In the older houses around Bentonville that happens more often than it does not. We plan for it, carry the valves to deal with it, and leave every new faucet running at full pressure with nothing dripping behind the cabinet door.
540-671-5417One of us answersKitchen sink, bathroom lavatory, the laundry tub in the basement, the hose bib out at the well house. Every one of them hangs off the same well and the same old pipe, so a faucet job down here is really a look at whatever feeds it. That hidden part gets most of our attention.
If the shutoff under the sink will not close, the new faucet waits until it does.
Why a faucet job turns into a valve job
The faucet itself is the easy piece. What sits behind it decides how the visit goes.
Shutoffs that will not shut
Under a farmhouse sink you often find multi-turn stops that have not moved in twenty years. Turn one and it either spins without closing or starts weeping at the stem the moment you touch it. Leaving that under a new faucet is asking for a slow leak inside the cabinet. We test every stop first, replace the ones that fail, and tell you before we do it.
Old stubs out of the wall
The pipe sticking out of the wall might be copper, might be galvanized, might be something a past owner improvised one weekend. Braided supply lines need a clean, sound connection to grab. Galvanized threads rusted thin get cut back and transitioned properly, so the joint you cannot see is never the one that drips.
Grit and air after well work
Right after a pump or pressure tank gets serviced, a well tends to push sediment and pockets of air through the house. Aerators clog, cartridges stiffen, and a brand new faucet sputters like it is broken. We flush the lines before the faucet goes on and clean the aerator before we leave, which saves you a callback for something that was never really wrong.
Hose bibs where it freezes
River houses and well houses sit in the coldest part of the valley, and an ordinary outdoor spigot left full of water in January splits open. We put in frost-free sillcocks that shut off on the warm side of the wall, pitched so they drain themselves. If one already froze and cracked, we repair the line and take 10 percent off frozen water-line repairs.
The right faucet for the sink
A kitchen pull-down needs room under the sink for its hose to travel, plus a deck or counter that takes its base. A bar or laundry faucet lives a rougher life, with more splashing and more hot water. We help you choose something that fits the sink you already have, before you buy, so it does not end up living in a box.
Tested under pressure before we go
Every faucet we set gets the same finish. We crack the shutoffs open slowly, let the line fill, and watch each joint under the sink with the water fully on and then fully off. A drip at a compression fitting shows up in the first minute if it is going to show up at all, so we wait that minute out instead of packing tools.
After that we run hot and cold separately, check that the handle reaches full flow both ways, and look over the drain we disturbed while the sink was empty. A loose basket strainer or pop-up often gets snugged while we are down there anyway. Small stuff, sure, but small stuff is what leaves water pooling on a cabinet floor.
If it is going to drip, we want to be kneeling there when it starts.
The faucet you pick is your call: finish, spout height, one handle or two. Our side is how it connects, which valves stay, and whether the supply behind it is sound enough to trust. If we find something that needs more than a faucet swap, you get the reason and the choice before we touch it, and your free quote matches the real job.
Already bought one and wondering if it fits? Call 540-671-5417 with the model number. The main faucet installation page covers this work everywhere we go, and our Bentonville page has the rest of what we handle down here.
Down 340, and the well behind the tap
Our shop is in Front Royal, and Bentonville is fifteen to twenty minutes south on Route 340, following the South Fork toward Luray. If a supply line lets go at a faucet, which old pipe will do now and then, the 24/7 line rings one of us and somebody is on the way. Being this close is the whole point.
Most homes here draw from a private well with a pressure tank in the basement or out in a well house. When a faucet suddenly runs weak or spits air, and so does every other tap in the house, the tank or the pressure switch is the likelier cause than the fixture. We check that before selling you a faucet you did not need.
Out at the well house, the hose bib is usually the one nobody thinks about until spring. Sitting on an unheated wall, it is the first thing to freeze and the last thing anybody checks. When we are already on site for a kitchen or bath faucet, we take a look at that bib too, and if it is a plain spigot in a cold spot, we will tell you what it would take to make it frost-free. Asking costs you nothing, and the answer can save you a cracked line plus a pump that runs all night trying to keep up with the leak.
See how we leave a job in the gallery, or book a time through our contact page.
Faucet work in Bentonville and the rest of Warren County, run out of our shop in Front Royal.
More of our Bentonville work
When the faucet is the small piece of a bigger project, the other Bentonville pages pick it up.
Redoing the whole bath: bathroom remodeling. A house that is still studs and subfloor: new construction plumbing. Heat that comes from an aging boiler: boiler installation. A sink drain that keeps backing up after the new faucet goes in: video camera pipe inspection.
Rileyville is just down the road and Howellsville Road runs through the country between here and Front Royal, all part of the same week for us. The Warren County page covers the full route. Father and son, forty-five years of plumbing between us, and still getting better every day.
Faucet questions from Bentonville homeowners
Can I replace a faucet myself?
You can, and plenty of people do. The trouble usually starts below the faucet: a shutoff that will not close, a rusted stub that snaps, a supply line cross-threaded onto an old valve. If any of that shows up halfway through, stop and call us before the water goes back on.
Why does my new faucet sputter and run weak?
On a well, the usual culprit is grit or air in the line, especially after pump or tank work. The aerator catches it first, then the cartridge. Cleaning the aerator often fixes it. If every faucet in the house is weak, the pressure tank or switch is the next place we look.
Do you replace the shutoff valves too?
When they need it. We test every stop before connecting a new faucet. If it closes cleanly and the stem stays dry, it stays. If it spins, weeps, or barely moves, we replace it, because a new faucet on a failing valve only moves the leak somewhere you cannot see.
What is a frost-free sillcock, and do I need one?
It is an outdoor faucet whose valve sits inside the heated side of the wall, so the water stops before it reaches the cold. In the valley bottom around Bentonville an ordinary spigot can split in a hard freeze. On a river house or a well house, we recommend one.
Will you install a faucet I bought online?
Usually, yes. Send us the model before we come so we can check that it fits your sink and counter and what connections it needs. Some kitchen pull-downs want more cabinet room than people expect. Knowing ahead of time keeps the whole thing to a single trip.
How do you know the new faucet is not leaking?
We open the shutoffs slowly and watch every connection with the water running and then shut off, hot side and cold side both. We look at the drain under the sink as well. If something is going to drip, it shows up in the first few minutes, and we stay through them.
Got a faucet that needs to go?
Tell us which sink it is and what kind of house, and one of us calls you back. Get a free quote before anything comes apart.
Water running where it should not? Call 540-671-5417 any hour.