A kitchen faucet that loosens over time set on a granite counter

[Terry]

I can't tell you how many times I've gone out to tighten a kitchen faucet that has loosened on a granite counter top. Often, it's because the installer that cut the hole drilled from the top, not accounting for the attachements for the faucet below the stone. For a faucet to remain secure, it needs to thread up to something solid.

Wood isn't solid.

Wood will compress and compress.
The fix is to cut a bigger hole in the wood support.

Here is what I find when I go out there. The faucet is snugged up to wood, which is too soft to hold the faucet tightly. You can cut it with a hole saw, but you need a pilot to keep the drill from skittering around and hurting yourself. Here I took a thin sheet of plywood, securing it to the underside with screws. I drilled a pilot hole down from the top, then transferred to the underside with my hole saw.

The end product looks like this.

I now have the faucet installed against the stone.

 

[FullySprinklered]

Good post, good pictures, Terry. Will the countertop people, the cabinet people and the plumbers ever get together on the same page? Not very likely. The contractors get paid to work the gray areas between the trades, but I've never met a plumbing savvy contractor.

Other issues that are seldom considered are: the extra thickness of the countertop if tile is used for the surface, and the extra difficulty of setting the sink and faucet there. Also, the dweeble who drills for the faucet too close to the sink bowl is less than helpful, as the washers go into a bind and tilt the faucet when you tighten it up, if you can even start the nut at all.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

Also, the dweeble who drills for the faucet too close to the sink bowl is less than helpful, as the washers go into a bind and tilt the faucet when you tighten it up, if you can even start the nut at all.

My son has cut ABS pipe to the correct thickness, and then trimed it as needed. At least it worked one time.

 

[LarryLeveen]

We are having a similar problem with our faucet mounted to a granite countertop. However, there is no wood on the underside like in your first picture -- just the granite countertop, but the faucet keeps slipping anyway. Seems like a really stupid design to have a nut on/close to the axis of the faucet have to resist torque imparted by the hot/cold on/off lever (which is much farther from the center axis, giving it more leverage). We've had the mounting nut re-tightened, but the faucet loosens up anyway. Got any ideas? This is a new faucet from a remodel, and I'm thinking of recommending my friend return it for something with a different design.

 

[Terry]

You might try some thin rubber between the metal plate and the counter top.

 

[hj]

You take one hole saw the size of the hole in the counter, and one the size of the hole you need. Using the instructions on the hole saw mandrel, you remove the "stop", screw the large one on, and then the smaller one inside it to act as the "pilot drill".

 

[LarryLeveen]

I'm sorry, HJ, but I didn't quite understand what you were trying to communicate.

 

[Themp]

How about using some thread locker on that nut?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-0-2-fl-oz-Threadlocker-Blue-242-209728/100371826

There are various forms of thread locker, the blue can be removed.

 

[Dj2]

I would try Terry's suggestion first.
A rubber washer may stop the sliding.

 

[hj]

You "Stack" the smaller hole saw inside the larger one on the same arbor. It goes into the hole in the granite to center the larger one that cuts the new opening. Arbor instruction sheets tell you how to do this.