So, my tub faucet is leaking. I live in an apt and I'm not too sure when the landlord is actually going to get this issue fixed. Right now, there is a steady, light stream of water coming out of the faucet. I know fixing this would be pretty easy , but I don't have access to my water heater, etc so I can't do it myself. To temporarily stop the faucet from leaking until it actually gets fixed, I found I could divert water to the shower head and turn off the flow of water with the flow control on the shower head. This results in dripping from both the shower head and the tub faucet, which is less than the stream with no water diverted to the shower head. My question is, is there any consequence to temporarily slowing the leak like this? I'm just concerned that there could be some sort of pressure build up or something that could affect the pipes or something.
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Aren't there shut-off valves under the sink? Turn those off and take apart/tighten/replace/play with your faucet. You may need a water key to turn the valves.– MazuraCommented Sep 13, 2014 at 21:50
1 Answer
Diverting the leak up to the shower head using the diverter valve should not be a problem, but your assumption that fixing it will be "pretty easy" may not prove to be true. You are correct in that hot and cold supply to the tub/shower valve needs to be shut off. Sometimes apartment shower valves have built in shut-off valves called integral stops.
Sometimes apartments are equipped with individual remote shut-offs. Sometimes the whole building will need to be shut down. Removing the valves may require special tools like deep valve sockets.
The repair may be simple washer replacement or may require more complicated cartridge replacement.
I do recommend that you try it but make sure your landlord is cool with it in case something breaks, and have back up shower facilities available in case it ends up being out of service for a while.
