hr(bob) wrote:
On Nov 8, 8:47 pm, mcp6453 wrote:
My wife discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Upon investigation, I
discovered that water was getting under the sprayer. The washers in the
faucet were ready for replacement, and the gasket between the faucet
plate and the sink was shot. So I decided to install a newer faucet.

On the advice of a friend builder, we bought a Delta. The model is 400,
I think. Installing it was pretty easy, but after I finished, I noticed
that the faucet is not rigidly secured to the sink. There front and back
edges of the plate are not touching the sink as if the sink is warped.
The nuts on the underside of the faucet are as tight as I can get them
without breaking them.

Before I put the faucet in place, I ran a line of silicone around it.
While the silicone will help prevent water from leaking down under the
faucet, there is no way that it will add any dimensional stability.

Other than plumbers putty, how can I stabilize the faucet? If I use
plumbers putty, do I remove the gasket material under the plate? Is
there a flat, three-hole plate that I can get to go UNDER the sink to
add strength to the face of the edge of the sink? Buying a new sink is
not in the plans, at the moment.

As a side note, I was pretty disappointed in the flimsiness of this
Delta faucet. It's definitely not made of the same robust material as
the 20 year old one that I took out. Should I consider returning it and
getting something different, or all they all cheaply made now?

I recently put a new American Standard faucet in our kitchen sink,
with pretty much the same problems you had. I ended up hand cutting
and grinding the faucet base until the chrome cover was more or less
flat on the sink durface. Then I used a LOT of silicone rubber and
then tightened everything down. From the front it looks ok, and the
silicone rubber will keep any standing water around the fixture from
getting into it and then dripping under the sink. But I was really
disappointed in the crappy quality of what had been a great company.

I just watched this Lowes video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlLF24acHbs&NR=1. If I had bought the
model of faucet in the video, I don't think I would have the problem
since there is a thread and nut for the center hole. That would have
pulled the sink into the base plate. Now I wondering if I just wasted
the price of a new faucet.