Installing a Bathroom Faucet Yourself

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Moen, Incorporated for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you know removing an old bathroom faucet and installing a new one is totally a DIY project you can have done in a couple hours? No plumber or scary expensive tools required... just you and a Starbucks. (Okay, the Starbucks might be optional... might)  If you can assemble furniture, you can install a bathroom faucet.

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to sample the Moen Boardwalk 1-Handle bathroom faucet in Spot Resist Brushed Nickel and show you guys how to install it. Since I'm currently renting and the new house isn't exactly ready for faucets, I decided to surprise my parents and upgrade their powder room. #daughteroftheyear Here's what I started with. Their house was built in the mid 90's and while all the other faucets in the house have been switched out over the years, the powder room was still hanging on to the basic builder model.

Supplies:

• 5/8" Wrench
• Crescent Wrench
• Channel Locks
• Plumber's Putty
• Teflon Tape

Step 1:
Turn the water off. Don't be scared! It's really simple and you can easily test if you did it right. Just turn the two knobs under the sink to the right. You'll know it's off when you try to turn the faucet on and nothing comes out. This will also drain any water left in the faucet. Ta-da! Easy. The one on the left should be hot and the one on the right should be cold. Now lay a towel down in the cabinet because a few drips will come out when you start unscrewing stuff.

Step 2:
Disconnect everything that is holding the old faucet on. It's really that easy. If it's holding the old faucet to the sink, you need to unscrew it. I first unscrewed the water lines with the wrench, then disconnected the stick that makes the drain plug work. This thing...

After you disconnect it underneath, just pull the stick out through the top.

After that, there were two screws holding the faucet to the sink. Unscrew those and the faucet should lift up.

Eww. Yeah, that mess is plumber's putty. It scrapes off easily.

Step 3:
Remove the drain. Since you took the stick part out in step 2, the round metal plug will lift right out. Stick a screwdriver or something under there and pop it up. 

After that, there will be two large nuts under the sink on the drain. You might need the channel locks to unscrew them or they might be a plastic and you can unscrew by hand. There will also be a rubber gasket and maybe another washer or something. You most likely won't need any of it since the new faucet will come with all new parts. However, I keep everything until I'm totally done just incase.

If the drain just spins from the top when you try to unscrew the bottom, get a partner to hold it from the top. I stuck a screwdriver down into the drain to hold it still while my husband unscrewed from under the sink. When it comes out it will probably look something like this beauty here. That's 20 years of hand washing there. Nice.

Most of that is plumber's putty and you need to clean it all off the sink. You can toss the disgusting drain!

Step 4:
Attach the faucet to the sink. Open the box, find your instructions, and keep all the parts in their separate bags until you need them. Makes everything go a lot faster.

Stick the faucet into your sink. Since our sink had three holes we had to use the optional plate. If your sink has one hole, you can just put the faucet directly on the sink. You will use one small rubber gasket also. The directions clearly showed what order to put everything.

Attach the faucet to the sink using the "U" bracket that comes in the box and the handy wrench tool so you can get your hand up where it needs to be. This was just one nut to tighten under the sink. We were carful not to tighten Incredible Hulk style so as not to crack the sink. Just tight enough to secure the faucet.

Step 5:
Reattach the drain. Since Moen is wonderful, they kept all of the drain parts in one bag together. Grab the bag with the drain parts and screw them on according to the picture. This is where you will have to use plumber's putty. It's just like your kindergarten days of Play-Doh. :) You need to make a snake.

The putty goes between the sink and new drain. Remember where you scraped it off before?

Yep, that lovely hole. We have to put new putty around it. From my experience, the rule is, use enough so it squirts out when you tighten down the drain. You just smoosh it under the lip of the drain so that no water can leak between the drain and sink. Clean off the excess that squirts out. Then plop the drain stopper in. Make sure the loop at the end of the stopper is open to the back. (you can see the loop at the end of the stopper in the pic below)

Step 6:
Attach the drain stopper stick (I made that name up). You have to reattach this thing so your drain functions.

So stick it down in the little hole in the back, and wiggle it a little to get past the bracket underneath. Once it's under there, you'll attach it to another rod with holes in it. It comes with a little clip to do this. Those holes are so you can adjust how far down you have to push the stem to get the drain to open, and how far up you have to pull it to get the drain to close. Then stick the rod with the ball attached (this is rod #3 if you're counting) into the hole in the back of the drain. Then the other end of rod #3 goes into one of those holes from rod #2. Are you confused? Don't be! The instructions give you 3 really clear pictures and this step requires no tools. :)

Step 7:
Reattach the water! This is where the Teflon tape comes into play. You just wrap it once around the threads of the water pipes before you screw them into the new faucet. This way, the connections are water tight. Attach hot to left and cold to the right. Guess what? You're done!

And because the Moen Boardwalk has the Spot Resist Finish, it resists fingerprints and water spots (seriously needed in this house with 7 grandkids passing through) and is WaterSense compliant, saving mom money on utilities. I can hardly wait for the fam to see her revamped powder room this Thanksgiving! Just one small change and it looks so much more "custom". You can pick up your own Moen Boardwalk at Lowes and Like Moen on Facebook for more tips and inspiration.