Santa Clara built out quickly after the war, and street after street of it went in during the fifties and sixties to more or less the same recipe. That is useful for us, because we can often guess what is in a house before we walk in. It also means the neighborhood tends to hit the same problems at the same time.
Cast iron drains are the main issue. Instead of breaking, cast iron narrows: rust scale builds up on the inside until everything that flows past catches on it. The usual sign is a kitchen line that needs snaking a little more often every year, until somebody is coming out to clear it every few months. A camera shows whether you have a blockage or a pipe that has lost most of its diameter, and the two lead to very different quotes.
The other one is the original copper on the supply side. Half a century in, pinholes start turning up, usually as a stain on a ceiling or a damp patch at the bottom of a wall long after the leak actually started. One pinhole is a repair. Three in a year means the pipe is telling you something.
There are a lot of rentals and small multi-unit buildings around the university, and landlords have a different problem from homeowners: they need the work documented. We write up what we found and what we did, so there is a record for the file and for the next tenant.
Because so many Santa Clara streets went in at once to the same specification, we can often tell you what is likely behind your wall before we arrive. Give us the build year and the cross streets on the phone and the quote you get will be a good deal closer to the final number.
What we get called for in Santa Clara
Plumbing services in Santa Clara
Need a plumber in Santa Clara?
Phone consultations are free. Describe what it is doing and we will tell you whether it needs a visit, and roughly what it will take.