Why taps drip — and when DIY makes sense

Every dripping tap is one of two stories. Traditional taps — the kind you turn two or three times — close by pressing a rubber washer onto a seat, and the washer wears out. Modern lever taps close with a ceramic cartridge — quarter of a turn, two polished discs — and when they drip, the cartridge itself has usually failed.

The DIY-sensible case

A washer swap on a traditional tap is honest DIY territory if the isolation valves under the sink work: water off, tap open to drain, headgear unscrewed, washer swapped, everything back together. Washers cost pennies and the job takes fifteen minutes when it goes well.

Where it goes wrong

• Seized headgear — years of limescale can lock it solid, and the leverage people apply next is how basins crack and tap bodies twist. If it doesn't want to move, stop.
• No working isolation valves — if you can't shut the water off locally, the job grows immediately.
• Ceramic cartridges — hundreds of near-identical types; identifying the right one is half the job.
• Mixer taps — many are assembled in ways that aren't obvious from above, and forcing them is expensive.

Still dripping after a new washer?

The brass seat the washer presses against is probably worn or pitted — a re-seating job with a proper tool, or the point where replacing the tap makes more sense than persisting.