That drip you keep meaning to fix
If you've got a faucet in the kitchen or a bathroom that's started dripping, or one that feels loose and wobbly at the handle, or one that only leaks from certain angles, the fix depends almost entirely on what kind of faucet it is. Nixa has a mix of older ranch homes from the 70s and 80s off Mt. Vernon and Gregg, plus a lot of newer construction out toward the west side and around Highway 14. That range in housing age means a real mix of faucet types too, and the repair for one will do nothing for another.
Before you buy a repair kit or call anyone, you need to know whether you're dealing with a cartridge faucet, a ball faucet, or a ceramic disc faucet. They look similar from across the room. Underneath, they're not.
Ball faucets and why they're common in older Nixa homes
A ball faucet has a single handle that sits on top of a rounded metal or plastic ball with slots cut into it. Move the handle and the ball rotates to mix hot and cold water. These were everywhere in kitchens built through the 80s and into the 90s, so if your house dates from that era and has one lever that swivels in every direction, you likely have one.
Ball faucets tend to leak around the base of the handle first, especially in homes with hard well water or municipal water carrying mineral content, which is common in this part of the Ozarks. Mineral buildup wears down the rubber seats and springs inside faster than it would in a house on softer water. If you can see water pooling at the base of the spout or the handle feels gritty when you turn it, that's usually the seats and springs failing, not the ball itself.
More on this from Cartridge, Ball And Ceramic Disc Faucets Told Apart.
Cartridge faucets in remodeled and newer homes
Cartridge faucets use a cylindrical cartridge that slides up and down or turns to control flow and temperature. Some have a single handle, some have two, one for hot and one for cold. You'll find these a lot in homes that have been remodeled in the last fifteen or twenty years, since builders shifted toward cartridge designs for both new construction and kitchen and bath updates around town.
The tell with a cartridge faucet is a leak that happens right at the handle when it's in certain positions, or a handle that feels stiff and requires more force to turn than it used to. Cold winters here mean pipes and fixtures go through repeated temperature swings, and that expansion and contraction can dry out the O-rings inside a cartridge faster than you'd expect. If your faucet only drips when the handle is turned partway, that's a cartridge symptom.
Ceramic disc faucets and the season changes that affect them
Ceramic disc faucets usually have a wider cylindrical body under the handle, sometimes called a disc cartridge. They're common in higher end fixtures and in a lot of the newer builds going up in the subdivisions off South Street and toward Christian County. These are generally the most durable of the three types and the least likely to need frequent repair.
When they do fail, it's often because sediment or grit has scratched the discs, which shows up as a faucet that leaks at very low flow but seals fine when fully open, or the reverse. Nixa's water can carry sediment after heavy spring rains stir up the supply, and older homes with galvanized supply lines can shed rust particles into the water too. If a disc faucet develops a leak that seems to come and go depending on how far you turn the handle, that's a sign grit has gotten between the discs.
What you can check yourself
Start by shutting off the water supply under the sink and pulling the handle off. That alone often tells you what you're dealing with. A rounded ball with slots means ball faucet. A smooth cylinder that slides means cartridge. A wider, flatter cylindrical assembly usually means ceramic disc. Take a photo before you disassemble anything further, since matching the exact part at a hardware store is much easier with a picture in hand.
Replacing seats, springs, or an O-ring on a ball or cartridge faucet is a reasonable weekend job if you're comfortable with a wrench and don't mind a little trial and error. Ceramic disc assemblies are usually replaced as a whole unit rather than repaired piece by piece, which makes them simpler in one sense but pricier if the part isn't available locally.
When it stops being a DIY job
If you turn off the water and the leak keeps coming from somewhere other than the handle, or if the shutoff valves under the sink are corroded and won't turn easily, stop there. Forcing an old shutoff valve in a Nixa home built before the 90s can crack it, and then you've got a bigger problem than a dripping faucet. Corroded valves and supply lines are common enough in older homes here that it's worth checking those before you start any repair, not after.
Likewise, if you've replaced the obvious parts and the faucet still leaks, or if you can't identify which of the three types you have even after taking it apart, that's the point to call a plumber rather than keep guessing. A faucet that's original to a house from the 80s may also be near the end of its useful life altogether, and no amount of new seats and springs will fix a worn out valve body.