What counts as a faucet or fixture repair
This is the work behind the handles: kitchen and bathroom faucets, shower and tub valves (the part inside the wall, not just the handle), outdoor hose bibs, and the small shut-off valves under every sink and toilet. When one of these fails, you get a drip, a handle that spins loose, water that won't get hot or cold, or a valve that won't shut off when you need it to.
Some of this is a swap — pull the old faucet, set a new one. Some of it is a repair — a new cartridge or stem inside a valve you'd rather keep than tear out of the tile. We do both, and we'll tell you which one actually makes sense for what's in your wall.
When do you need this instead of something bigger
If the problem is contained at one fixture — one faucet dripping, one shower running only hot, one hose bib leaking every spring when you turn it back on — that's a fixture repair. It's not the same call as leak detection and pipe repair or a whole-home repipe, which are about pipe inside the walls or slab, not the fixture itself.
A few signs point toward fixture work specifically:
- A faucet that drips no matter how tight you turn it off
- A shower valve where hot and cold have started mixing wrong, or the handle turns loose
- A hose bib that leaks at the wall when the outside spigot is opened, especially after a hard freeze
- A shut-off valve under a sink or toilet that won't turn, or won't fully stop the water
- A kitchen or bath faucet with low flow at one handle but not the other
If instead you've got water pressure dropping across the whole house, or a leak you can hear but can't see, those point to water pressure problems or leak detection — worth a look before you assume it's the faucet.
How the visit goes
We ask what fixture, what it's doing, and how old the house is before we come, because that tells us a lot about what's likely inside the wall. On the visit: we look at the fixture, check the shut-offs, and confirm whether it's a cartridge, washer, or valve body issue — or whether the fixture itself has reached the end and a replacement is the straighter path.
Most faucet, hose bib, and shut-off jobs are one visit: diagnose, get the part, fix it, test it under pressure before we leave. Shower and tub valves sometimes mean opening tile or drywall to reach the valve body, which we'll walk you through before starting, not after.
What affects the difficulty of the job
- Brand and age of the fixture. Some faucet lines still stock cartridges after 20 years; others were discontinued and need a full swap instead of a repair.
- Access. A valve behind an access panel is a different job than one buried in finished tile with no way in.
- Shut-off condition. If the shut-off valve itself is seized — common in older houses that haven't had one turned in years — that gets replaced too, or the water has to come off at the main.
- Hose bib type and freeze history. A frost-free bib installed at the wrong pitch, or one that's been left connected to a hose all winter, is a repeat offender.
- Whether it's one fixture or several. A landlord replacing faucets across a few units at once is a different scope than a single kitchen sink.
We don't quote a price without seeing or hearing the specifics — but none of the above changes what we tell you before we start.
What's specific to Portland houses and water
Portland's water is soft and slightly acidic, which is kind to pipe walls but hard on rubber washers and cheaper cartridges — they wear out faster here than in cities with harder water. In the older housing stock through inner Southeast, North, and Northeast Portland, it's common to find original 1940s–60s valves that were never designed to be repaired with parts sold today, which is often the point where repair stops making sense and replacement takes over.
Hose bibs are a seasonal call. Every fall we get calls for bibs that split over winter because they weren't drained or weren't frost-free to begin with — worth checking before the first hard freeze, not after. And in houses with galvanized or older copper supply lines, a shut-off valve that hasn't been touched in decades can shear when you finally turn it, which is why we check those before we call a job "just a faucet."
Why call Sheltons Construction
We're a licensed Oregon plumbing contractor working faucets and fixtures across the Portland metro alongside bigger jobs — water heaters, drain cleaning, sewer lines, full bathroom and kitchen plumbing. That means the plumber at your door knows what a failing shut-off valve or a corroded hose bib usually means for the rest of the system, not just the part in front of them. We tell you plainly whether it's a repair or a replacement, and we don't leave until the water's been tested.
What to do now
If a fixture is actively leaking into the house, shut off the water at that fixture's valve — or the main if the shut-off won't turn — and contact us or call. For a faucet that just needs attention on a normal schedule, reach out and describe what it's doing; we'll tell you what to expect before we come out. Active flooding or no shut-off in reach is an emergency plumbing call. Have more general questions first? Check the FAQ.
We work faucet and fixture calls throughout Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Clackamas, and Wilsonville.