Faucet Features to Consider
By the time most people get to the faucet, they’re sick of making decisions. Tile took a month. The vanity’s backordered. So the faucet gets picked at 11 p.m. off whatever page has the most stars.
I get it. But a couple of faucet features on that page are going to matter every morning in a Plano bathroom, and most of the rest are there to make the price look reasonable.
Check the Sink Holes First
A homeowner over in west Plano called us with a widespread faucet still in the box. Brushed brass. She’d been waiting on it two weeks.
Her cultured-marble top was drilled 4 inches apart, center to center. Widespread faucets need about 8. There’s no adapter for that, and I hated telling her, because it really was a nice faucet.
Hole spacing isn’t on anybody’s list of faucet features to look at. It should be first. Get a flashlight and a tape measure under there before you order.
She kept her old faucet another week. I swapped both shutoffs while I was under there anyway. The house was built in the ’80s and still had the original valves. One wouldn’t close all the way.
That’s pretty common around here. A basic faucet replacement takes us 45 minutes to two hours, and it’s almost always the valves that make it two.
Hard Water and Your New Faucet
You’ve seen the white ring around the base of your faucet. That’s Plano’s water, and it’s hard on everything it touches.
First place it shows up is the aerator, the little screen on the end of the spout. If the stream’s spraying sideways, that’s usually why. Soak it in vinegar overnight and you’re done.
The part you can’t soak is the cartridge. Of all the faucet features you’ll pay for, that’s the one I’d spend on. Ceramic disc. The cheaper rubber-seal ones don’t hold up long in this water.
Chrome’s the worst for spots. Brushed nickel hides them pretty well.
And if every fixture in the house looks like that, a new faucet won’t fix it. That’s a softener conversation.
Are Touchless and Smart Faucets Worth It?
Sometimes. If three kids share a hall bath, I’d put one in tomorrow. Nobody’s grabbing the handle with toothpaste hands, and the water quits when they wander off halfway through brushing.
You do need power, though. It’s either a battery pack under the sink or an outlet in the vanity, and a lot of vanities don’t have one.
A lot of these have a little filter screen in front of the valve, too. In our water it clogs. When a touchless faucet drops to a dribble, that’s the first thing I pull.
Smart faucets go a step further with apps and voice control. Nobody’s ever bragged to me about still using the app a year later. I’d skip those faucet features and put the money in the shower.
Water Flow and Hot Water Limits
Federal law caps bathroom faucets at 2.2 gallons a minute. WaterSense models are 1.5. You won’t notice. It’s a bathroom sink.
The limit stop isn’t one of the faucet features anybody puts on the box, but it’s the one I bring up with grandparents. It’s a little adjustable piece in a lot of single-handle cartridges that keeps the handle from going all the way to hot. Hardly anybody knows it’s there.
We set one for a couple who keep their granddaughter most weekends. Took ten minutes. Now she washes her own hands and nobody has to hover.
Most two-handle faucets don’t have one. Good to know before you fall for a pretty one.
Before You Hit Order
The call I don’t want to get is a new faucet on 40-year-old valves, supply nut cranked too tight, dripping inside the cabinet till the floor of it swells. Call Total Air and Heat, your trusted next-door neighbor for 65 years, and we’ll check the faucet features you’re eyeing against your sink first. (972) 881-0020.
Bathroom Faucet FAQs
do touchless faucets break down a lot
Not really. There’s just more to go wrong, mostly batteries and that filter screen. A regular single-handle faucet will usually outlive one.
can i do the faucet replacement myself
Plenty of people do. If the shutoffs turn easy and the new one fits your holes, give yourself an afternoon. If a valve’s stuck or starts leaking when you touch it, stop there and call us.
which faucet features are actually worth paying more for
The cartridge. Get ceramic disc. After that, a finish that doesn’t show every spot. Most of the extra money past that is for looks.
does it have to match my towel bars and everything
No. Mixing metals is fine if it looks like you meant it, like matte black next to brushed brass. It’s two chromes that are almost the same that look wrong.
do i need a permit to change out a faucet in plano
Not for a straight swap. The City of Plano doesn’t require one to replace a fixture on existing plumbing. Moving the sink or the supply lines is a different deal, and that needs a licensed plumber and a permit.
And hang on to the box until it’s been on there a couple weeks. You never know.
