Only one faucet in my apartment is weak. Who fixes that?
Who pays, usually: An owner often pays, since a faucet and its stop valve serve only one home, while a renter reports it to the landlord. Declarations can draw the line differently.
Filed under Probably yours
To increase water pressure in an apartment when only one faucet is weak, start with the aerator and the stop valve under that sink, because the rest of your plumbing is plainly getting water.
From the Whose Pipe Is It? desk. Sources last checked November 3, 2026. .
Here is the good news. If the kitchen is weak and the bathroom is fine, the building's supply is not your problem. The restriction is somewhere in the last few feet of pipe, and a frequent culprit is a small screen you can unscrew by hand.
A sensible order for one weak faucet
- Close the faucet and plug the drain so nothing small disappears. Then note whether hot, cold or both are weak.
- Unscrew the aerator from the spout, by hand or with a wrench over a cloth so you do not mar the finish.
- With the aerator off, run the cold and then the hot for a moment. A strong stream means the aerator was the choke.
- Rinse the screen and pieces, clear any grit, wash your hands and screw it back on.
- Still weak? Look under the sink. Each line usually has its own small stop valve. Check that the handle is fully open and the flexible supply line is not kinked.
- If a stop is partly closed, open it slowly by hand. If it is stiff or starts to weep, stop there and leave it for a plumber or your landlord.
Handle that aerator with a little care. EPA says sediment, debris and lead particles can collect in one, and it lists cleaning your aerator among its everyday habits.
Why did it get weak right after a shutdown?
Because water service work stirs up sediment, and the first tight spot it meets is often your aerator. Denver Water recommends cleaning aerators in all your faucets after an outage, and New York City's water department says you may need to as well. If your building has just had a water shutdown, start here.
Could it be scale?
If the aerator comes off crusted white, that points to hard water. The USGS classes run from 0 to 60 mg/L as soft, 61 to 120 as moderately hard, 121 to 180 as hard and more than 180 as very hard. Your water utility may publish a figure, and a test kit will give you a rough one.
Knowing the number does not mean you should plumb in equipment. Treating water in a shared building has its own limits.
When does it stop being a five-minute job?
When the aerator and stop are clear and the flow is still poor, the next suspects are the faucet's cartridge, the supply line or the pipe behind the wall. If only the hot side is weak, the cartridge is a fair guess, though a wider problem would show at other hot taps too. And if two or three fixtures are now weak, go back and read about weak pressure across a home or floor, because that is a different question.
If you own
The faucet is very likely yours, and so is the choice of whether to clean, rebuild or replace it. The line behind the wall is less certain, so check how your declaration describes pipes serving a single unit, as the page on which pipes are yours explains. Ask staff before any work that needs a building valve closed.
If you rent
Cleaning an aerator is usually harmless and many renters just do it. Anything past that, including stop valves that stick, goes to the landlord. Say which faucet, hot or cold, and what you already tried, so the repair visit starts in the right place.
The short of it
One weak faucet is usually a small, local fault. Clean the aerator, check the stop and the supply line, and hand the rest to a plumber or landlord.
Asked next
Do you have to shut off the water to remove an aerator?
No. With the faucet closed, the aerator is past the valve, so nothing should run. That is why this is the easy first step. Plug the drain anyway, since the small rubber washer loves to escape.
Can you run the faucet without the aerator?
Briefly, for testing, yes. The stream will be stronger and splashier. Put it back afterward, because it shapes the flow and limits how much water you use.
What if the stop valve will not turn at all?
Leave it. A valve that has sat for years can be seized, and forcing it can start a leak you cannot stop from the sink. A plumber or your landlord can deal with it, with staff involved if a wider shutoff is needed.
Read it yourself
- EPA, basic information about lead in drinking water: what collects in aerators and the cleaning habit, read Nov 3, 2026.
- Denver Water, interruptions in your water service: cleaning aerators after an outage, read Nov 3, 2026.
- NYC Environmental Protection, water shut-off: sediment in aerators, read Nov 3, 2026.
- USGS, hardness of water: hardness classes, read Nov 3, 2026.