Maintenance
Tap Maintenance: Stop Drips Before They Start
A dripping tap wastes about 20,000 litres a year and usually needs a part that costs a few dollars. Here's how to keep taps working and when to stop turning them harder.
· 3 min read
Leaking Taps, Running Toilets & Mixer Repairs
The jobs everyone puts off. A dripping tap wastes thousands of litres a year and a running toilet wastes more, and both are usually a same-visit repair rather than a replacement — provided whoever does it fits the right part rather than the closest one.
- No call-out fee
- Fixed price before we start
- Lifetime labour warranty
Get a fixed price
No call-out fee. We’ll call you straight back.
Sound familiar?
What we get called out for
If any of these describe what’s happening at your place, we can help — usually the same day.
A tap that drips after you turn it off
A perished washer or a worn seat. If the tap has been forced shut for months, the seat usually needs re-cutting as well as a new washer.
A tap that squeals or hammers
A loose washer or jumper valve vibrating in the flow. It’s harmless as a noise and a warning as a symptom — the vibration fatigues joints.
A mixer that won’t shut off cleanly
Ceramic disc cartridges wear. They’re replaceable, and replacing a cartridge is a fraction of replacing a good mixer.
A toilet that keeps running
The inlet valve or the outlet seal. It can waste more water than every other fixture in the house combined, silently.
A toilet that rocks or leaks at the base
The pan connector or the fixings have failed. Water at the base is going under the floor, not across it.
A tap you can’t turn any more
The spindle has seized, usually in a laundry or garden tap nobody has moved in years. Forcing it snaps the body.
Repaired properly, not just tightened
Most dripping taps are fixed by replacing a washer, and most of those come back within a year because the seat the washer closes onto is scored and nobody re-cut it. We re-seat as part of the repair where it’s needed, which is why the tap stays fixed.
The same applies to mixers. A worn ceramic cartridge gets replaced with the correct cartridge for that brand and model rather than a generic near-enough part — near-enough leaks, usually within months, and by then the vanity has been re-siliconed around it.
What a running toilet is actually costing you
A cistern that doesn’t seal can pass water continuously into the pan. It makes no noise, leaves no mess, and shows up only on the bill — a single failed outlet seal can waste well over 200 litres a day, which is more than a family of four uses showering.
The test takes two minutes: put a few drops of food colouring in the cistern, don’t flush, and come back in fifteen minutes. Colour in the bowl means the outlet seal has failed. Both the seal and the inlet valve are inexpensive parts and a single-visit repair.
New tapware, and the thing to check before you buy it
We install tapware and toilets people have bought themselves, and it usually goes fine. Two things catch people out. First, tap hole spacing and basin thickness — a mixer designed for a 35mm hole doesn’t fit a 32mm one, and a very thick stone benchtop needs an extended thread that not every model offers. Second, WELS-rated fittings and, in a new bathroom, the tempering valve that limits the temperature at the outlet.
Send us a photo and a model number before you buy and we’ll tell you whether it fits what you’ve got. It takes a minute and saves a return trip to the showroom.
How it works
Our taps & toilets process
- 1
Tell us what it’s doing
Dripping, running, seized or noisy — that alone narrows it to a part.
- 2
Diagnosed on site
Washer, seat, spindle, cartridge, inlet valve or seal — we identify which before quoting.
- 3
Fixed price before we start
Including whether the fixture is worth repairing or has reached the end.
- 4
Repaired and tested
Checked under pressure, and the area left dry and clean.
Customer reviews
What people say about our work
“Excellent service, very friendly and went above and beyond to get what was needed done.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published “Great communication, Colin was professional, polite and friendly and did a magnificent job. Highly recommend for any plumbing needs.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published “They arrived on time, very professional and friendly — a pleasure to have in my home. The work was carried out efficiently and they cleaned up after themselves. The price was good. I will definitely be using this company as my plumber.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published
Where we work
Taps & Toilets across the Hills, Hornsby & the North Shore
Based in Annangrove and covering the whole of the north-west and upper north shore.
The Hills District
Hornsby Shire
- Asquith
- Beecroft
- Cheltenham
- Cherrybrook
- Galston
- Hornsby
- Hornsby Heights
- Normanhurst
- Pennant Hills
- Thornleigh
- Waitara
- Westleigh
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Upper North Shore
Common questions
Taps & Toilets questions, answered
It comes down to what has actually failed and how many taps are involved. A washer and a re-seat is at the cheap end; a seized spindle, a specialty mixer cartridge that has to be ordered in, or a tap body that’s beyond repair all move it up. Doing several taps in one visit is far cheaper per tap than doing them one at a time, so it’s worth mentioning every dripping tap in the house when you call. No call-out fee, and a fixed price before we start.
Repair, in most cases. A quality tap body lasts decades and only the working parts wear out. Replacement makes sense when the body is corroded, when the tap is a discontinued model whose parts can’t be sourced, or when you were going to change the look anyway. We’ll tell you which one you’re in front of.
Almost always. Inlet valves and outlet seals are common parts and we carry the usual ones, so it’s typically a single visit. Older or imported cisterns occasionally need a part ordered in, and we’ll tell you on the phone if yours is likely to be one of them.
Yes, and plenty of people do. Just check with us before you buy if you’re unsure it fits — hole spacing, benchtop thickness and the connections underneath are where supplied tapware comes unstuck. Note that we warrant our labour, not somebody else’s product.
Water hammer — the shock of moving water stopping suddenly. Sometimes it’s as simple as a loose jumper valve in the tap itself, sometimes it needs an arrestor fitted or pressure limited at the main. It’s worth fixing rather than living with: the same shock that makes the noise fatigues joints, and eventually one of them fails.
We do small jobs. There’s no call-out fee and no minimum job size, though if you have a list — a dripping tap, a running toilet and a slow drain — it’s much better value to have us do them all in one visit than to book three separate ones.
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How to Find Your Water Meter (and Why You Should Do It Today)
In a burst-pipe emergency, the single most useful thing you can do is turn the water off at the meter. Here's how to find yours, before you need it.
· 4 min read
- Maintenance
How to Clean Your Kitchen Pipes (and Stop the Sink Blocking)
Kitchen drains block more than any other in the house, and it's almost always the same cause. Here's how to clean them properly and keep them clear.
· 4 min read
Need taps & toilets sorted?
No call-out fee, a fixed price before we start, and a lifetime labour warranty on everything we do.