Interior Water Line Repair

Once an interior leak is located, the repair is a plumber's job done at one place. Our licensed plumbers open the wall, ceiling or floor at the mark, expose the line, cut out the failed section or fitting, and tie in new pipe with the correct transition for whatever the house has: a sweated or press fitting on copper, a dielectric union where copper meets galvanized, a proper PEX transition where polybutylene or old poly is being retired, a solvent joint on CPVC. The repair is pressure tested before the opening is closed, and the drywall, trim or flooring goes back.

What we find behind the wall decides the conversation afterward. Copper that pinholed once where it rubbed a nail plate or touched slab concrete is usually a sound system with one bad spot. Galvanized that rusted through at a thread is rusted at every other thread too. Polybutylene that cracked at an acetal fitting has the same fitting at every branch. A spot repair on a sound system is the right fix; a spot repair on an end-of-life system is a bridge to the repipe we'll talk about with the pipe in your hand.

We also handle the interior side of the point-of-entry work that comes with an exterior service line repair: the main shutoff that wouldn't turn, the galvanized stub inside the foundation that's as bad as the line outside, the pressure regulator that failed, the hose bib that's been weeping into the wall. One crew, one visit, inside and out. Registered general contractor, bonded and insured, licensed plumbers on the team.

When you need interior water line repair

• A located leak on an interior supply line
• A failed fitting, union or valve at the water heater, the main shutoff or a branch
• A pinhole in copper at a nail plate, a slab contact or a hanger
• A cracked polybutylene fitting at a crimp
• A frozen-and-thawed line in a crawlspace or exterior wall
• Damage from a remodel, a screw or a nail

How the job goes

1. Locate first. The leak is pinpointed with instruments before anything is opened, so the opening is one spot.
2. Isolate and drain. The affected side or branch isolated, the line drained, and the area protected.
3. Open. Drywall, ceiling, cabinet back or flooring opened at the mark, as small as the repair allows.
4. Repair. Failed section or fitting cut out and new pipe tied in with the right fitting for the material. Transitions done correctly: dielectric at copper-to-steel, proper adapters off polybutylene.
5. Test. Pressure restored and the repair watched under full pressure before the opening is closed.
6. Close. Drywall patched, trim or flooring reset, and a note on the condition of the rest of the system.

Equipment and materials

• Type L copper and press or sweat fittings
• PEX-A with expansion or crimp fittings
• Dielectric unions and transition adapters
• Ball valves to replace failed gate valves
• Pressure gauges

What shapes the scope

Every property is different, and these are the things that decide whether a job is a quick morning or a full day. We'll tell you which it is before we start.

• Pipe material and the transition required
• Where the leak is: open crawlspace, finished wall, ceiling, under cabinet, slab
• Whether the pipe on either side is sound enough to tie into
• Access to shutoffs
• Finish work required to close the opening