Pro Handyman Blog

A kitchen faucet gets abused on a daily basis. People hit the handle up to turn the water on, and then slam their hand back down on it to shut the water off. It’s no wonder then that faucet handles take a beating and can get a little sloppy.

You mainly see this with a single handled faucet, but the same can occur with two handled faucets as well. After repeated abuse, the handles will either become loose or damaged to the point that if they can’t be tightened, they have to be replaced.

Generally, there is a decorative cap to lift up. Pry a small standard screwdriver under this cap and pop it off. You will typically see a screw in the center holding the handle to the cartridge or stem. Tighten it down until snug. This should make it so the handle engages immediately rather than waiting for it to move 2 inches and finally engaging. It is seldom that the hole in the handle becomes out-of-round do to force. The handle is metal but the parts it mates to are plastic, and typically the plastic will break before the metal will.

You typically won’t have to replace the handle as it would likely have to be special ordered, and by the time you spent the money on it, you can just as easily buy a new builder grade faucet to install.