Why Hose Bibs Fail Around Here
The Pacific Northwest freeze-thaw cycle is the usual killer. A standard hose bib with a hose left attached over winter traps water in the pipe, freezes, and splits — and you often don't find out until spring when you turn it on and water runs inside the wall. The other common failures are worn washers (steady dripping) and seized or broken handles on older units.
Repair or Replace?
A dripping bib with a good body is often just a washer — cheap fix. A split, frost-damaged, or badly corroded bib gets replaced, and we replace with frost-free models where the plumbing allows: the shutoff sits back inside the heated wall cavity, so a hose left on in December doesn't turn into a burst pipe in the wall. We'll tell you which situation you have before any work starts.
What a Replacement Looks Like
Shut off water, cut out the old bib, solder or crimp in the new one (frost-free where possible), test under pressure, and make sure it drains properly when shut off. If the bib feeds off galvanized pipe that's failing, we'll show you what we found rather than just caulking over a bigger problem.