AFFORDABLE PLUMBING SERVICE IN Toms River, NJ

What Are the Most Common Plumbing Issues in Toms River?

Toms River is one of the most historic towns in the United States. We boast everything from being one of the safest cities in the US to being famous thanks to shows like Boardwalk Empire. But the issues we face here aren’t all Jersey Shore all the time; they also include plumbing problems. Some of the most common ones we encounter include:

• Stopped or slow drains
• Leaky faucets, showerheads, toilets, and other fixtures
• Improvements and inspections to existing plumbing structures

Older neighborhoods, such as downtown Toms River, Cedar Grove, or East Dover, are particularly susceptible to degraded plumbing, as buildings there are more historic and less likely to have seen intensive upgrades. Your plumbing degrades over time, which means these older homes naturally have less efficient plumbing.

Although the water in the area is only moderately hard, the minerals suspended in it can take their toll on your plumbing system. They can build up on the insides of your pipes, restricting flow, contributing to clogs, and decreasing water pressure. They can also accumulate in your water heater, fixtures, and appliances, placing excess strain on them and limiting their life span significantly.  

One of the major issues that we face here is Nor’easter storms. Not only can these cause obvious kinds of damage such as flooding, but they can also pose a danger to plumbing by causing drains to back up and sewer systems to clog with debris. The best way to prevent this is to keep your pipes clear and maintained well.

How Does the Water in Toms River Affect Your Plumbing?

The municipal water supply in Toms River is one of the safest in the area. SUEZ Water maintains multiple water treatment plants for exactly this reason. They’re also extremely careful about testing and maintaining the content of your drinking water. This can include everything from calcium carbonate to iron to radon. At 48 to 108 parts per million of calcium carbonate, water in Toms River is moderately hard, which makes it safer for your pipes than the water in many other cities.

Water Hardness

“Hard water” isn’t just another term for ice. It’s a way to measure the number of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium carbonate in the water supply. Having some amount of these is normal and even necessary for healthy drinking water — which is one of the reasons even purified bottled water has some of these minerals added back in — but having extremely hard water can lead to limescale buildup and clogs in pipes, and extremely soft water can leach minerals straight from the plumbing, causing corrosion and extra leaks. Toms River municipal water clocks in at the slightly to moderately hard end of the scale, so while limescale and similar problems can be an issue, these issues aren’t as prevalent here as in other nearby cities.

Well Water

Many people in Toms River drink well water, especially outside the city center. While the municipal water supply is filtered and fully safe, it is generally a good idea for well owners to install water filters on their faucets. One of the downsides of living so close to major urban areas is that the groundwater is often contaminated with chemicals. These chemicals can also build up inside pipes and corrode them, so it’s doubly important to have them inspected by our professionals.

How Much Does Plumbing Usually Cost in Toms River?

An average plumbing job in Toms River usually costs between $175 and $850. This includes the labor costs, materials, and permit fees. There are a variety of factors that can influence which end of the range your job falls into, some of which we describe in this section.

Nature and Scope of the Work

It’s an undeniable fact that large projects come with large costs. But some of the scope of a project can be hidden even when the problem is obvious. The trouble is that we hide our pipes in walls and cabinets, and the first sign of a larger issue may be as small as a dripping sound under the sink. Work that requires permits will always be more expensive and time-consuming than simple fixture replacement. Likewise, any pipes in your walls and ceilings are going to be more expensive to repair than the exposed pipes leading to a water heater.

Expenses and Labor

In addition to larger jobs taking more work, they take more parts. While that may seem self-evident, there are a variety of parts & labor costs that can play into the ultimate cost of a plumbing job. These can include:

• The cost of permits
• Additional specialized tools if a job requires them
• Time spent gaining access to a problem area
• A premium for emergency work outside normal business hours

Supply and Demand

There are times when plumbing work is in higher demand than others. Some work is best done at certain times of year (as anyone who’s ever had to install a new boiler in the middle of winter can attest). Other times, there are external factors that influence the demand for plumbing work. After a major storm event, we see a lot of calls regarding backed-up drains and clogged sewage, so getting our plumbers to your home immediately will cost extra due to the increased demand. This is one of the reasons it’s better to do regular cleanings and inspections of these drains, to reduce the risk of stoppage later.

Can Better Plumbing Save You Money in Toms River?

Better plumbing can save you money anywhere and everywhere! There are a few different ways this can happen, and we’ll describe them in this article.

Leak Prevention and Repair

Nobody wants to deal with water leaks in their home. Leaks can cause massive damage to a house, cost a lot of money to find and repair, and generally wreak havoc in your life. This is why preventative inspections are so important to saving water – the adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure certainly applies here. After all, all water lost to leaks is ultimately water you’ve paid for and then wasted. It’s much better to find out from a plumbing expert what areas in your home need attention and what needs to be addressed in the future.

Installing New, Efficient Appliances and Fixtures

This is the single biggest impact you can have on your water usage. Modern water-saving fixtures (especially ones with the EPA’s WaterSense logo) can save you hundreds or even thousands of gallons of water each year. Ultimately, that’s money in your pocket for water that would have been wasted in the first place. Many of these fixtures can even pay for themselves in savings within the first year of using them.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program

New Jersey has a highly progressive energy-saving program. This Clean Energy Program is aimed at making it easier for people to save on their utilities by replacing their aging fixtures and appliances with newer, safer, more efficient models. The program offers rebates for a variety of work, not just plumbing, so if you’re doing any upgrades to your property you should look into it and maybe save some money. Some highlights from the list of rebates:

• Get between $250 and $500 back for replacing a gas furnace
• Get between $700 and $950 back for replacing a combination furnace and water heater
• Get between $50 and $75 back for replacing a clothes washer
• Get up to $4,000 and zero-interest financing toward a full Home Energy Audit

This same program also provides automatic discounts on WaterSense fixtures at hardware stores and Costco.

When Should You Call the Water Utility Company in Toms River Vs Hire a Plumber?

Most of the time, a water issue on your property is your own problem to deal with. You own the pipes, therefore, you own the leaks. There are a few instances, however, when it’s better to call SUEZ Water instead of our plumbers.

Water Leaks

It’s usually obvious where a water leak is, based on where the water ends up. If there’s water spewing from a fire hydrant or a crack in the road, that’s a municipal problem, and you should call SUEZ Water’s emergency reporting line at (877) 565-1456 immediately. If you’re unsure about the source of that standing water in your lawn, turn off all the shutoff valves you can in the area and watch your water meter. If it continues to go up, the odds are good that it’s not a municipal leak, and you should call us instead.

Water Loss

If you completely lose water pressure in your home, your first step should be to check around the house for any obvious leaks. In general, a leak large enough to affect your water pressure is going to be very noticeable wherever it is. If you don’t see anything obvious, check with your neighbors. If they’ve lost water as well, it’s likely there’s a water main break or service shutoff happening, and you should report it to SUEZ Water. If it is just you, call us as soon as possible. We have the technology to find the sources of these shutoffs and repair them.

When Do You Need Permits for Plumbing Service in Toms River?

Most major plumbing and gas work in Toms River requires a permit from the city. While this may seem unnecessarily bureaucratic, it’s an essential step in keeping the entire city safe, as it ensures all plumbing work complies with the most up-to-date building codes and regulations. Some examples of the kind of plumbing work that requires permits in Toms River are:

• Replacing or installing a toilet, urinal, bathtub, or shower
• Installing anything that requires a new floor drain
• Replacing or installing a sink, dishwasher, or clothes washer
• Replacing or installing a boiler or water heater
• Anything that involves work on gas lines as well as water
• Installing a backflow preventer in sewage lines and drains

It can be difficult to figure out exactly what work does and doesn’t require a permit in Toms River. This is why having our professionals in your corner can be such an asset. Not only are we trained to do the work, but we also take care of the permitting process for you.