AFFORDABLE PLUMBING SERVICE IN Parma, OH

What Are the Most Common Plumbing Issues in Parma?

Parma is a modern city with a long history and a diverse population, and we’ve seen just about any plumbing issue you can name over the years. That having been said, there are some problems that folks here in Parma seem to experience more often than others:

• Fixture replacement
• Hot water heater replacement
• Clogged or slow drains
• Low pressure or no pressure
• Leaking pipes
• Frozen pipes

How Does the Water in Parma Affect Your Plumbing?

Our water here in Parma is provided through the Cleveland Water Department and originates in Lake Erie. Obviously, The Great Lakes offer a wealth of fresh water and the water utility does a great job of treating it to ensure it is clean and healthy to drink. Getting our water from Lake Erie has some drawbacks, as small amounts of trace minerals present as sediment at the lake can slip past the water treatment process and come through in our drinking water. These small pieces of minerals are harmless for human ingestion but can have adverse effects on your plumbing over time.

This level of trace minerals in water is referred to as its “hardness”. Our water here in Parma tends to have a total hardness of around 125 PPM. While this is pretty insignificant compared to cities like Dayton that can commonly have over 350 PPM total hardness, our water is still considered very hard.

Most people associate hard water with issues like soap scum buildup on the shower, or that persistent grit that often develops around faucets and fixtures. That scale that develops around your fixtures is also building up within your pipes. As water carries the sediment through your pipes, it will collect in areas that can restrict the flow of your water and potentially create a buildup in pressure over time. In some cases, scale can build up so thick in pipes that it can cause leaks and ruptures. This is a gradual effect, but over time, hard water will decrease the lifespan of your entire plumbing system.

How Much Does Plumbing Usually Cost in Parma?

With our proximity to a major city center like Cleveland, plumbing services here in Parma are usually pretty affordable compared to the national average. There are, however, a few factors that could have significant effects on the price you pay for plumbing service in Parma.

Extensiveness of Repairs or Services

When talking about factors that increase the cost of plumbing services, the size of a job is always going to have a large bearing on the price you pay. It’s pretty obvious that more work and more extensive updates or repairs to your plumbing system would carry higher costs, but these costs can rise drastically for large-scale plumbing jobs that overhaul or remodel major portions of your plumbing infrastructure.

The plumbing within your home is a delicately engineered system designed to meet your water needs while also ensuring that your plumbing infrastructure remains resilient over time. Replacing large portions of your plumbing will also often involve altering existing plumbing to prevent any imbalance within the system. Small repairs like fixes for leaking pipes or fixture replacements may not cause a lot of impact on the overall plumbing system of your house, but significant changes will require ensuring that every part of your house’s plumbing infrastructure still functions at peak efficiency.

Urgency

We plumbers are fairly busy people. While we don’t like to charge more for emergency repairs and issues, these jobs often require us to work overtime to ensure we can resolve your problem while still meeting previously made appointments. Urgent plumbing issues may be rare but those that lead to flooding, for instance, can be devastating to your home if they aren’t dealt with promptly. Routine care and preventative maintenance of your plumbing system is the best way to prevent costly emergencies and urgent appointments that potentially could add to the price of services.

Age

Old homes that are solidly built can provide a lot of charm and value, but we also commonly find unexpected surprises hiding in the plumbing of these older houses. Routine repairs on older buildings can commonly uncover outdated or ill-maintained pipes that pose a serious threat to the plumbing within your home.

Pipes and other plumbing components aren’t meant to last forever, and even the most durable and long-lasting materials often have a safe life span of around 25 years. If the plumbing in an old home has been neglected for a long time, it’s likely that much of the plumbing within it is past its expiration date. As pipes age, the protective coating that covers them begins to degrade. Without this coating, your pipes can begin to corrode which could eventually lead to issues with the structural integrity that can manifest themselves as leaks and burst pipes. 

These aging pipes will need to be dealt with if found because the structural weakness they present to your plumbing system isn’t the largest threat they pose to your household. Corroding pipes can introduce harmful contaminants like rust and lead into your water that could have absolutely devastating health effects on everyone within your home. Even incredibly small amounts of lead are toxic to humans, which is why our water supply is regularly tested to verify that there’s no harmful amount of lead. Most cases of lead poisoning from drinking water, however, are a result of the plumbing within a home rather than from the municipal water supply.

If you have an old house it may prove to be the exception to the rule, but typically, homeowners of older homes should expect plumbing services cost on average a little higher than they would in a newer home.

Can Better Plumbing Save You Money in Parma?

Better plumbing can always save you money over the long-term anywhere, Parma included. Just like any other critical infrastructure of your home, investments into your plumbing can increase the value of your property as well as decrease the likelihood of high repair costs in the future. There are a few ways that people around Parma, in particular, can save money.

Water Softeners

Hard water will inevitably damage plumbing over time here in Parma. Your fixtures will dilapidate faster and plumbing components won’t last as long. Your plumbing may require cleaning and de-clogging more often as sediment collects in your pipes. A water softener for your home can be an investment that will avoid many of the increased costs that are caused by hard water. A water softening system will take some initial installation costs, but for many long-term residents here in Parma, it’s an investment that proves well worth it over the life of their home.

Replacing Aging Pipes

Aging pipes can be a serious liability for the future of your house. Regular plumbing inspections and updates to older components can help save you the risks and potential costs over time that plumbing past its prime can cause.

When Should You Call the Water Utility Company in Parma vs Hire a Plumber?

The Cleveland Water Department does a great job at keeping water flowing through our taps and faucets, and making sure that that water is clean and healthy. Their responsibility, however, ends when the water main connects to your house. Any issue that originates within the plumbing infrastructure of your home, you’ll need to call a plumber to deal with it.

Calling the water utility could at least shed some light on whether there’s a known issue on the city’s lines. If there is a problem with the water grid, the utility should at least be able to give you an estimated time that they will have it repaired. If your pressure is low in your home, a utility technician can also come out and verify that the city is providing you the water pressure that you’re entitled to, but beyond that, they won’t be able to rectify any problems with your plumbing.

If you do have a plumbing issue within your home, you should call us as soon as possible. Even small plumbing issues like pinhole leaks can quickly escalate into more serious problems under the constant pressure of water. Dealing with any plumbing issues right away could save you a lot of headaches down the line.

When Do You Need Permits for Plumbing Service in Parma?

For most plumbing work around here in Parma, we’ll need to get plumbing permits through the City of Parma Department of Building, Engineering, and Zoning. For simple repairs like small leaks and clogged drains, we typically won’t need to get a permit. Any work that adds or removes any materials or components in your plumbing system, will require an approved permit application and the permit fee indicated on the application.

According to the Parma city ordinance, all applications must be signed off by an approved contractor registered within the city. We can certainly help you get an application together easily. We’re very familiar with the application process for permits in Parma and can get an application in quickly so we can get to work on your plumbing sooner.