On Thu, 10 May 2007 09:26:07 -0500, wrote:

My bathroom faucet has a drip and I traced it to the hot water handle.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to unscrew it because the Philips screw is
stripped.

Any suggestions as to how to take off the handle? It's one of those
handles where the screw is in the middle of an indented circle.

If you're going to drill out the screw, buy some left-handed drill
bits from Harbor Freight (the only place that has cheap ones, last I
looked) and use a reversible drill to drill in reverse. Use a bit
that is clearly smaller than the screw shaft so as not to damage the
stem. Often the screw will come out some time during the drilling,
because you're drillling counter-clockwise, just like unscrewing is.

If that doesn't happen, you can go back with a bigger drill until you
have one that takes the head off.

If I do get it off, what's the procedure for stopping the drip?

Something about the packing around the stem. With some faucets you
don't even have to remove the handle to get to the pakcing nut, and I
think the first thing to try is tightening the packing nut, the nut
that surrounds the stem. In a bathroom they try to make it prettyy so
you probably have to remove the handle.

When I shut the hot water valve under the sink, I notice that the drip
moves to the valve.

You mean that when you turn off the valve under the sink, it leakes
there instead. That means you have two leaks.

But many undersink type valves don't leak when they are all the way
open or all the way closed, and leak in the middle. Maybe you haven't
tightend the valve closed enough. But for a short time you might be
able to catch the drip with a pan.

In many/most/all vanities, the bottom is made out of particle board,
so if it gets wet it will fall apart. I've ended up cutting a piece of
thin plywood or something to fit under 3 of my 4 sinks. Not so hard
and should last forever. I have the sawdust from the powder room
vanity in a little bowl on the counter, like pot pourri, but it has no
smell.

If it gets to the point that you need to buy screw extractors or try
to drill out the screw, the easiest solution may be a new faucet.
They aren't all that expensive, and you have the benefit of a nice new
faucet, which is worth something, as I'll bet the existing one isn't
exatly in primo condition.