Residential Plumbing

Residential Plumbing Services

How the Plumbing in Your House Fits Together

Every house has two plumbing systems that never touch. One brings clean water in under pressure. The other carries used water out by gravity. Most problems we see come from one of those two systems, and knowing which one you’re dealing with makes the fix a lot easier to plan.

Water supply

Your water comes in through a service line from the meter or from a well. It passes a main shutoff, sometimes a pressure reducing valve, then splits into cold lines and a feed to the water heater. From there, hot and cold lines branch out to every sink, shower, toilet and appliance. In a lot of Southwest Florida homes those lines run under or inside a concrete slab, which is why a hidden leak here can be harder to find than one in a house with a crawlspace.

Drains and vents

Drain lines slope downhill from each fixture into larger stacks and then out to the sewer lateral or septic tank. Vent pipes run up through the roof so air can get into the system and water drains smoothly. When a vent is blocked, you hear gurgling and fixtures drain slowly even though nothing is clogged.

Fixtures and the water heater

Faucets, toilets, showers, tubs and appliances are where the two systems meet. The water heater sits in the middle of it all, and it tends to be the hardest-working piece of equipment in the house.

Why Southwest Florida Homes Have the Problems They Do

A lot of what goes wrong comes down to when the house was built and what the pipes are made of. Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties went through several big building waves, and each era left behind its own set of materials.

Older homes: galvanized, cast iron and early copper

Homes from the earlier decades often have galvanized steel supply lines and cast iron drains. Galvanized pipe rusts from the inside, so water pressure drops over time and you may see brown water after the house sits. Cast iron drains crack and scale up. Some older sewer laterals were even made of Orangeburg, a tar paper pipe that deforms as it ages.

Late 1970s to mid 1990s: polybutylene

Polybutylene was a gray plastic supply pipe made between 1978 and the mid 1990s and put in millions of homes across the country. Chemicals used to treat drinking water can break it down from the inside, and it tends to fail without warning. Insurance carriers in Florida flag it often. If your home was built or replumbed in that window, it’s worth finding out what’s in your walls.

Newer homes: copper, CPVC and PEX

Later homes mostly use copper, CPVC or PEX. These hold up much better, but they aren’t problem free. Copper can develop pinhole leaks. CPVC gets brittle as it ages, especially in a hot attic. PEX fittings can leak if they were crimped poorly the first time.

Hard water

Most of the water here comes from limestone aquifers, and it picks up calcium and magnesium on the way. That’s hard water. It leaves scale in water heaters, faucet cartridges, showerheads and tankless heat exchangers, and it’s one of the main reasons fixtures wear out sooner than people expect.

Plumbing Repairs and Fixture Installs

Most service calls start here. A running toilet, a dripping faucet, a shutoff valve that won’t close, a hose bib that leaks, or low pressure at one fixture. These are the everyday problems that don’t feel serious until they run up the water bill or cause damage under a cabinet.

We track down the cause, fix or replace the failed part, and tell you if we see anything else that’s close to failing. We also install new fixtures, valves and supply lines. You can read more about how we handle day-to-day plumbing repairs and installations on that page.

One thing we check on almost every call is water pressure. Plumbing code calls for a pressure reducing valve when static pressure is over 80 psi, and high pressure is hard on fill valves, washer hoses and water heaters. If your house has a PRV, it also needs a way to handle thermal expansion from the water heater.

Hidden Leaks and Slab Leaks

A leak you can see is easy. The ones that cost people money are inside walls, above ceilings or under the slab. Because so many homes here are built on concrete, a supply line leaking under the floor can go on for a long time before anyone notices.

Signs to watch for:

• A water bill that jumps with no change in how you use water
• The meter moving when every fixture is off
• A warm spot on a tile or concrete floor
• Damp baseboards, lifting floor tile or a musty smell
• The sound of running water when nothing is on

We work to pin down where the leak is before anything gets opened up, so you’re not tearing out more floor or drywall than you need to. After that, the fix might be a spot repair, rerouting the line through the walls or attic, or a larger repipe if the pipe is failing in more than one place. Our leak detection and slab leak page goes through how that process works.

Water Lines and Repiping

The main water line runs from the meter or well to your house. It’s buried, so trouble usually shows up as a soggy spot in the yard, a sudden drop in pressure or a meter that won’t stop spinning. Roots, shifting soil, old fittings and digging for other projects all damage these lines. We cover the full process on our water line and water main repair page.

Repiping is a different decision. It makes sense when the pipe inside the house is the problem, not one bad spot. Polybutylene, badly corroded galvanized, and copper with repeated pinhole leaks are the usual reasons. It also comes up when an insurance carrier won’t write a policy until the supply lines are replaced.

Most repipes we do use PEX. It’s flexible, fewer fittings are needed, and it can usually be run through the attic and walls instead of under the slab. Take a look at our whole-house and PEX repiping page if you’re weighing a repipe against another round of repairs.

Drains and Sewer Lines

A single slow sink is usually a local clog. Grease, soap scum, hair and food scraps build up in the trap or the line right behind it. That’s a quick fix with the right equipment. Our drain cleaning and clogged drain service handles these.

When several fixtures back up at once, or water comes up in the tub when you flush the toilet, the problem is further down the line. That points to the main drain or the sewer lateral outside. Common causes here include roots, sagging sections, broken cast iron or clay, and older pipe that has collapsed.

What we do on sewer calls

We clear the line, find out why it backed up, and look at the condition of the pipe. From there it may need a repair, a section replaced, a full line replacement, or a new cleanout so the next problem is easier to reach. Our sewer line repair, replacement and cleanout page covers each of those, including new sewer connections.

Water Heaters, Tank and Tankless

Hard water is tough on water heaters. Scale settles in the bottom of tank units and coats heating elements, so they run longer, make popping noises and wear out early. Rust in the hot water, a leak at the base, or a tank that can’t keep up are the usual signs it’s near the end.

We repair, replace and install tank water heaters, and we’ll tell you honestly whether a repair is worth it on an older unit. The water heater repair and replacement page has more detail.

Tankless units are a good fit for some homes. They heat water as you use it and free up floor space. They also need regular descaling here because of the mineral content, and the gas line or electrical service has to be sized right. See our tankless water heater page if you’re thinking about switching.

Bathrooms and Kitchens

Bathrooms have more plumbing in a small space than any other room. Toilets that run or rock, showers with weak pressure or a valve that won’t hold temperature, tubs that drain slowly and faucets that drip are all common calls. A leaking shower pan or toilet seal can also damage the subfloor long before it shows. We handle all of it on our bathroom plumbing page, including showers, tubs, toilets and faucets.

In the kitchen, it’s mostly clogged sinks, jammed or leaking garbage disposals, failing faucets, and dishwasher or ice maker lines that leak behind the cabinets. Grease is the biggest cause of kitchen drain problems, and it’s worth keeping out of the sink. Our kitchen plumbing and garbage disposal page covers repairs and new installs.

Remodels, Additions and New Construction

Moving a sink, adding a bathroom or opening up a kitchen almost always means moving pipe. The drain slope, venting and supply sizing all have to work in the new layout, and on a slab that can mean cutting concrete to relocate a drain. Getting the plumbing planned early saves a lot of rework later.

Most remodel and new construction plumbing needs a permit and inspections from the local building department, and we plan the job around that. For remodels, see remodel plumbing. For new homes and additions, see new construction plumbing. If your project is a business, rental building or other non-residential property, our commercial plumbing page is the better place to start.

Wells, Septic and City Utilities

Not every home here is on city water and sewer. Parts of Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres and other areas still run on private wells and septic tanks, and that changes how we approach a call.

Homes on wells

Well water in this area often carries iron, sulfur and hardness. That can mean rust stains, a rotten egg smell and scale in fixtures and water heaters faster than on city water. The Florida Department of Health recommends testing a private well for bacteria and nitrate at least once a year.

Septic to sewer conversions

Cape Coral has been extending city water, sewer and irrigation to unserved neighborhoods through its Utilities Extension Project. Once the city sends a notice of availability, developed properties have 180 days to connect, and the old septic tank has to be pumped and properly abandoned under a permit. The work on the private side of the property is the owner’s responsibility. Lehigh Acres has septic to sewer projects in the planning stages as well. If you’re in either area, our Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres pages have more on local conditions.

After Storms and Flooding

Hurricane Ian came ashore in September 2022 as a Category 4, and the storm surge in the Fort Myers Beach area reached 10 to 15 feet above ground in places. A lot of homes that had never flooded before took on water. Surge and floodwater cause plumbing problems that don’t always show up right away.

• Sewer laterals and drains packed with sand and debris
• Water heaters and their controls ruined by saltwater
• Septic tanks and drain fields that flooded and stopped working
• Supply lines damaged by uprooted trees or shifting soil
• Wells that need to be disinfected and tested before the water is used

If your home took on water, have the drains and water heater checked before assuming everything works. Homeowners on the islands and near the water can find more on our Fort Myers Beach page.

Seasonal and Second Homes

Plenty of homes here sit empty for months at a time. A small leak in an empty house doesn’t get noticed until someone walks in and finds the damage. Water also sits still in the lines, P-traps dry out and let sewer gas in, and toilet flappers and faucet washers can stick or crack.

Before you leave, shut off the main water supply and set the water heater to vacation mode or turn it off. When you come back, run every fixture for a few minutes, flush the toilets and look under the sinks. If something looks off, call us before it gets worse. Seasonal owners in Collier County can also check our Naples page, and Charlotte County owners our Punta Gorda page.

Buying or Insuring an Older Home

Most Florida insurance carriers ask for a 4-point inspection on homes around 20 years old or older. The plumbing portion looks at the supply pipe material, the water heater’s age and condition, and any active leaks. Polybutylene and old galvanized pipe are the items that most often cause trouble. Carriers generally want to see copper, CPVC or PEX.

If you’re buying, find out what the pipes are made of before you close. If your carrier flagged something, we can look at it and tell you what it will take to correct, whether that’s a new water heater, a leak repair or a repipe. Buyers looking at older neighborhoods in Lee County may want to read our Fort Myers page too.

What’s Urgent, What Can Wait and What to Have Ready

Some plumbing problems can’t wait. Others can go on the calendar for next week. Here’s a rough way to sort them.

Shut off the water and call now

• A burst or spraying pipe
• Water coming through a ceiling or wall
• Sewage backing up into tubs, showers or floor drains
• A water heater leaking from the tank itself
• No water at all in the house

Call soon

• The meter moving with everything turned off
• Several drains running slow or gurgling
• Rusty or discolored hot water
• A toilet that rocks or leaks at the base

Can usually wait

A dripping faucet, a toilet that runs now and then, or a fixture you just want to upgrade. These still waste water, so don’t leave them forever.

Know where your main shutoff is before you need it. It’s usually near where the water line enters the house, at the meter, or next to the well tank.

What to have ready when you call

A few details help us figure out what’s going on and bring the right parts:

• Your address and the city or area you’re in
• What you’re seeing, where, and when it started
• About how old the house is and whether it’s been repiped
• City water and sewer, or well and septic
• Water heater type and age if the problem involves hot water
• Photos, if you can take them safely

You can call us at (239) 518-4198 or send a request through our contact page. We serve homeowners across Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties, including Bonita Springs. The full list is on our service areas page.

More Home Plumbing Services

Beyond leaks, drains, water heaters and repipes, we handle the rest of the equipment and fixtures that keep a Southwest Florida house running.

• Slab leak repair: spot repairs, reroutes and repipes once the leak is found
• Gas lines: natural gas and propane piping for water heaters, ranges, generators and pool heaters
• Water softeners and filtration: softeners, whole-house filters and drinking water systems
• Well pumps and pressure tanks: low pressure, short cycling and pump replacement on well homes
• Backflow testing: annual tests and repairs on irrigation and commercial assemblies
• Garbage disposals: repair, replacement and dishwasher hookups
• Toilet repair and replacement: running toilets, leaks at the base and new installs
• Sump and ejector pumps: pumps for below-grade fixtures, elevated homes and grinder systems
• Hydro jetting: clearing grease, scale and roots from drain and sewer lines