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WATER FORCEPlumbing · Tacoma, WACall
Licensed · Bonded · Insured

Leak and pipe repair in Tacoma. The failed section replaced, the rest left alone.

A supply line dripping under the sink, a stain spreading on the ceiling, a pipe that split in a cold snap. The leak gets found, the wall opened as little as it takes, and the section replaced in copper or PEX to match what is there.

Call (425) 615-3904

Water Force Plumbing LLC · WA L&I WATERFP745DR · Plumbing Contractor, residential.

Scope

What this work covers

  • Burst or frozen pipe repair
  • Leak in a wall or under a floor: located and opened
  • Section replacement in copper or PEX
  • Shutoff valve and supply line replacement
  • Hose bib and outdoor faucet repair

Tell us what needs fixing

Prepare a text message, then send it from your messaging app. For an active leak, call (425) 615-3904.

This requests a conversation; it does not reserve a visit. Add photos in your messaging app.

(425) 615-3904

Repair or repipe

One section or the whole house? That question decides the bill.

A leak has an address. Finding it is the job, and the repair is usually smaller than the stain suggests.

Usually one section
  • A pinhole in copper at one spot: the section comes out, new copper or PEX goes in.
  • A drip at a fitting, a valve or a supply line: the fitting or the line.
  • A hose bib that leaks or split in a freeze: the bib.
  • A pipe that burst in a cold snap: the split section, then the reason it froze.
  • A stain on the ceiling under a bathroom: often a tub drain, a toilet seal or a shower pan, and the opening is sized to reach it.
When repiping is on the table
  • Pinholes showing up along the same run of old copper, one after another.
  • Galvanized steel supply lines with rust flakes at the aerators and pressure dropping year over year.
  • Grey polybutylene pipe, stamped PB2110, with a history of fittings letting go.

Even then, the leak in front of you gets fixed first. A repipe is a separate conversation, with the runs named and the reasons given.

Drywall comes open only as far as the repair needs. Closing the wall back is its own trade, so the opening is kept as small as the section allows.

Finding it

Where the water is coming from, before the wall comes open

Water travels. A stain on the ceiling can start several feet away, at a fitting upstream, and run along a joist before it shows. The search starts at the fixtures above and around the stain, at the shutoff valves and supply lines, and at the meter.

The meter test: with every tap in the house off, the small triangle or dial on the meter should sit still. If it turns, water is leaving the pipes somewhere between the meter and the fixtures, and the leak is real even if nothing is dripping yet.

In a freeze, the pipes that split are on outside walls, in the crawl space and at hose bibs with a hose still connected. The split often shows only after the thaw, when the ice that plugged it lets go.

streetgaragehousecrawl spacemeter
Where the main shutoff usually is. 1 the meter box at the street, 2 where the line enters the house, often in the garage, 3 in the crawl space. Turn it clockwise until it stops.

Before you call

What helps before the visit

  1. 1

    Close the main shutoff: where the line enters the house, in the garage, the crawl space or a ground box near the street. Clockwise until it stops.

  2. 2

    Open the lowest tap in the house to drain the pressure, and a high one to let air in. The dripping slows to almost nothing.

  3. 3

    Move what is under the stain and catch what you can. A phone photo of the wet spot and of the nearest fixture tells more than a description.

  4. 4

    If water is running down a wall with outlets, or through a ceiling light, turn off that breaker before you touch anything.

Questions

Leak questions, answered before the visit

How do I find where a leak is coming from?

Start with the meter: every tap off, and the small dial on the meter should sit still. If it moves, the leak is on the pressure side, somewhere between the meter and a fixture. Then look up and around: water runs along pipes and joists before it shows, so the stain is a downstream clue, and the fixture above it or the fitting upstream is the usual source.

Do you have to cut the wall open to fix a leak?

Sometimes. A leak inside a wall or a ceiling is reached through the smallest opening that lets the failed section come out, sized to the repair rather than to the stain. Closing the wall back is a separate trade, and the opening is left square and clean for whoever does it.

A pipe froze and burst. What do I do right now?

Close the main shutoff, open a low tap to drain the pressure, and move anything electrical away from the water. Leave the frozen section alone: an open flame on a pipe is how a leak becomes a fire. Then call, and say where in the house it is; a split on an outside wall and a split in the crawl space are different jobs.

Should I repipe the whole house or just fix the leak?

Fix the leak. Repiping is a conversation for houses with a pattern: pinholes along one run of old copper, galvanized steel with rust and falling pressure, or grey polybutylene. One leak, on its own, is a section.

Do you use copper or PEX?

Whatever is there, matched. Copper joins copper; PEX ties in with the right fittings where a run is already PEX, or where there is no room to solder safely inside a wall.

Other services

  • Water heaters

    Repair and replacement, gas and electric.

  • Drain cleaning

    Kitchen sinks, bathroom drains and mainline clogs.

  • Fixtures

    Faucets, toilets and disposals, repaired or installed.

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