Man's Bath Vanity

Asian Full Bath

Full Bath Skylight

Alder Wood Cabinets

Pink Wallpaper

Faucet Valves

Introduction

Developing a deep understanding of the inner-workings of your faucet might be best left to professional plumbers, but when buying a faucet, it’s good to have some knowledge about what makes the model you’re buying tick. One of the first ways to differentiate your faucet choices is whether or not its valves use a washer. Washer’s are common in compression valve faucets, while washerless faucets include ball valves, cartridge faucets and ceramic disc faucets.

Ceramic disc faucets are the newest type available, and are also considered the least likely to need maintenance. “Currently, ceramic disc technology is the best type of faucet valve available; other options do not stack up,” says Al DeGenova, director of marketing communications for GROHE America, Inc. “However, I must qualify that statement by pointing out that not all ceramic disc cartridges are of equal quality, so a badly designed ceramic cartridge would not perform any better than an old fashioned compression cartridge.”

Many manufacturers provide their own take on ceramic disc cartridges, and most should be able to tell you how much usage their valves can take before maintenance would be necessary.