3 Essential Plumbing Repair Tips for First-Time Homeowners

Are you still in the honeymoon phase with your new home? Buying a house for the first time can be an exhilarating experience, and most people never forget their first home. Of course, that shine can sometimes wear off a little faster than you’d like, especially when you start facing the realities of home upkeep and maintenance.

The typical advice is to budget at least 1% of your home’s value per year for annual maintenance, but it’s often a good idea to save even more. Since plumbing can make up a substantial portion of these costs, it’s often helpful to understand as much as you can about your home’s plumbing.

These three tips will help you better understand your plumbing situation so you can plan for the future.

1. Learn About Your Pipes

   Your home’s plumbing might be out of sight and out of mind most of the time, but even small homes have a complex network of pipes for bringing water where it needs to go. Every home’s plumbing system is different, and both the design of your plumbing and the materials used can impact the likelihood of repairs and your long-term maintenance costs.

   Modern homes typically use copper, CPVC, or PEX pipes, while older homes may use a wide range of materials. Since every house has its own unique story, you may find that your home has plumbing made from many different materials. This situation usually results from previous owners conducting repairs in a piecemeal manner instead of replacing plumbing throughout the structure.

   While you don’t need to tear down any walls, you should examine as much of your exposed plumbing as you can. Copper or galvanized steel are two materials typically found in older houses. A mix of metal pipes and newer CPVC or PEX plumbing may indicate that the previous owners needed to conduct frequent repairs. This style of mixing and matching may be a clue that you’ll need to plan for repairs.

   In Tacoma’s older neighborhoods like the North End, Stadium District, and South Tacoma, the pipe-material mix is especially common because many homes have had partial repipes over decades. You might find galvanized steel in the basement, copper in a remodeled kitchen, and PEX in a more recent bathroom addition, all in one house. Mapping which sections are which helps you plan upgrades in order of urgency.

2. Schedule a Sewer Inspection

   Replacing or repairing a sewer line can be one of the costliest plumbing jobs you’ll face as a homeowner. If you didn’t inspect your sewer as part of the pre-purchase process for your home, you should consider scheduling a sewer-line camera inspection as soon as you can. Even if your drains seem to be working well, there may be hidden issues that can come to a head at the worst possible moment.

   With older homes, you’ll mainly want to consider the possibility of cracked or damaged sewer pipes. Typical issues include root infiltration from trees or lines collapsing due to age, corrosion, or physical damage. These problems aren’t always apparent without an inspection, especially if the previous owners recently cleaned their sewer pipes.

   This matters more in Tacoma than in newer markets. Many homes in older Pierce County neighborhoods have cast iron sewer laterals running under mature trees, where root intrusion at the joints is nearly certain after 50+ years of growth. A camera inspection catches these issues before they back up into the basement during a heavy rain event.

   Since even trenchless repairs can cost thousands of dollars, it’s usually better to know about developing problems before they cause sewage to back up into your home. Not only does this save you from costly and messy water damage, but it also lets you take time to budget for repairs or arrange for financing.

3. Practice Proactive Plumbing

   Perhaps the most critical thing you can do to manage your plumbing repair costs is practice a proactive approach to your home’s plumbing. Don’t wait for drains to back up or pipes to fail. If you notice an unusual odor, a slow-running drain, or a strange gurgling sound, it’s a good idea to call in a plumber as soon as you can. Be sure to have them also check your crawl space. Waiting for the problem to progress often just means spending more on repairs.

   Signing up for a maintenance plan with an experienced local plumber is one excellent option to deal with failures before they become critical problems. The relatively low cost of an annual maintenance membership will usually pay for itself by helping you avoid sudden and unexpected plumbing failures. You’ll also gain the peace of mind that comes from knowing your new home’s plumbing is in good order.

Your Year One Plumbing Checklist as a New Homeowner

Building on the pre-purchase inspection items covered in our guide to questions every new homeowner should ask, your first year is when you put that knowledge to work. Tackle these tasks in roughly this order:

• Month 1: Find and label the main water shutoff valve. Test that it actually turns. Map all individual fixture shutoffs under sinks and behind toilets.
• Months 1-2: Walk every visible plumbing run with a flashlight. Note pipe materials (galvanized, copper, PEX, etc.) and photograph junctions and shutoffs for future reference.
• Months 2-3: Inspect under every sink, behind every toilet, and around the water heater for any signs of slow leaks or corrosion.
• Months 4-6: Schedule the sewer line camera inspection if one wasn’t done pre-purchase. Flush the water heater for the first time.
• Months 6-9: Replace any cheap multi-turn shutoff valves with quarter-turn ball valves. Update aging supply hoses on washing machines (5-year replacement schedule).
• Months 9-12: Test all outdoor hose bibs for proper shut-off. Insulate any exposed pipes before the first winter. Schedule an annual maintenance visit with a local plumber to establish a baseline.

At Spartan Plumbing Inc. (LIC #SPARTSI794OC), we have helped Tacoma and Pierce County homeowners navigate plumbing maintenance and repair since 1958. From sewer-line inspections to maintenance plans that catch small issues early, our licensed team gives you a flat-rate written estimate before any work begins. Call or text 253-231-7015 to schedule an inspection or discuss a maintenance plan.

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