re: Leaky Bath Faucet - Attempt to Repair or Call a Plumber?

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Good to know. I do have two whole house shutoffs. One at the street and the other butts up against the house where the water line enters.

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If you decide to do this yourself, just cut off where it enters the house, and go find your lowest fixture. Usually it is a hose faucet outside. Turn that on until the water runs out of all the pipes. With no water pressure, gravity will let it clean out the lines of any water. Doesn't necessarily have to be the lowest, but needs to be lower than the tub you're working on. After that then you can replace the faucet parts. Tub stems aren't that bad, and I learned this one the hard way years ago after paying a plumber to replace one.

When you go to turn the water back on, do it slowly. My cutoff inside is in the basement and is a round handle like on a hose faucet. Open it up just a little bit until you hear water running, and once it goes for 10-15 seconds, open it up a little more. Then turn it all the way back on. This helps it fill the water lines back up slowly since there is now air in them, and turning it on full blast and it filling up quickly can cause issues in older fixtures.