What to know when shopping for your faucet
Basically you can only have what your sink will allow. If you are going to change your sink your options are virtually endless.
What kind of faucet do you have now?
A 4 inch center set (shown below) is all one body.
It can be 2 handle or single handle but the spout and handles are not seperate.
The 4" designates that the faucet inlet shank fits into a hole that is drilled 4 inches away from the other hole.
An 8" widespread (shown below) is a faucet where the spout is seperate from the handles and
the shank of this faucet can be a variety of distances away from the other one. The sink holes and where they are
drilled determine where the faucet valve bodies (handles) will be placed. The length of the flex lines that come with
the faucet will determine how far apart the valve bodies can be from each other. Most sinks are drilled at 4" or 8" centers
(see diagram below).
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Typical single handle kitchen faucet (shown below).
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Most kitchen sinks are drilled at 8" centers
There are
kitchen faucets that will fit on a sink with one hole. That would be considered a single hole application, where as a faucet with a plate would
be considered a three hole application.
More on kitchen faucets click here
(see diagram below).
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Laundry bibbs
Basically there are 3 types of hosebibbs used for supplying water to the washing machine
Typical laundry bibb (shown below).
The bibb shown is compression. It fits onto a copper pipe with a nut and compression ring. The other common bibbs are
screw fitting types, either female or male. Normally a plumbing contractor will carry 2 of each type but it doesnt hurt to ask him to bring
out the ones you have.
Typical hosebibb (shown below).
There are basically 3 types of hose bibbs but they come in different sizes
As far as I know everyone in the world has one of these somewhere on the outside of their house or apartment building.
If you don't please email me.
More on hosebibbs click here
An 8" widespread (shown below) is a faucet where the spout is seperate from the handles and
the shank of this faucet can be a variety of distances away from the other one. The sink holes and where they are
drilled determine where the faucet valve bodies (handles) will be placed. The length of the flex lines that come with
the faucet will determine how far apart the valve bodies can be from each other. Most sinks are drilled at 4" or 8" centers
(see diagram below).
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Most kitchen sinks are drilled at 8" centers
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Typical hosebibb (shown below).