Plumbing answers for Virginia Beach & Hampton Roads.

Because the land is low and flat and the groundwater is close to the surface. Most of South Hampton Roads is only a few feet above sea level, so water collects under houses and, on some lots, sewage cannot reach the city main by gravity alone. Pumps do the lifting.

A sump pump moves groundwater and rainwater out of a crawl space. A sewage ejector or grinder pump lifts waste from a bathroom or a whole house up to the sewer or septic system. They are different machines doing different jobs, and it helps to know which ones your home has before one of them stops.

A sump pump handles clear groundwater only. A sewage ejector pump passes waste and soft solids from fixtures that sit below the sewer line. A grinder pump shreds the waste first so it can be pushed through a small pressurized line, sometimes over a long distance.

Sump pumps sit in an open or loosely covered pit in the crawl space. Ejector and grinder pumps sit in a sealed, vented basin, usually with a check valve on the discharge pipe and often with a high-water alarm. If you are not sure which you have, a plumber can tell at a glance.

Stop using water straight away: no flushing, showers, laundry or dishwasher. The alarm means the basin is filling faster than the pump is emptying it, and every gallon you send down adds to it. Then check whether the pump’s breaker has tripped, and call a plumber.

Do not open a sealed sewage basin yourself; the gases inside are dangerous. Often the pump itself is sound and the fault is a stuck float switch, a failed check valve or a tripped circuit, which is a much smaller repair than a new pump. A good plumber checks those first.

Most sump pumps last around seven to ten years, and sewage ejector pumps a similar span, depending on how often they run and what is sent through them. Pumps in very wet crawl spaces that cycle constantly wear out sooner.

Test a sump pump before storm season by pouring water into the pit until the float lifts and the pump runs. Listen for grinding or a pump that runs without moving water. For sewage pumps, the best maintenance is what you do not flush: wipes, hygiene products and grease are what kill them.

Sometimes. Water under the house after heavy rain or a high tide is usually groundwater or drainage. Water that is there in dry weather, that smells of sewage, or that appears with a jump in your water bill points to a leaking pipe or drain.

A plumber can tell the difference quickly by checking the water meter with everything turned off, and by looking at the supply and drain lines under the house. Either way, standing water should not be left: it rusts cast-iron drains, rots framing and raises the humidity in the rooms above.

That is usually condensation. Cold water lines running through a hot, humid Tidewater crawl space sweat the same way a cold glass does, and the drips can look just like a leak.

The test is simple: a sweating pipe is wet along its whole length and only on cold lines; a leak is wet at one spot and keeps dripping when the weather is dry. Insulating the cold lines and keeping the crawl space drier, with a sound vapor barrier and working vents or a dehumidifier, stops the sweating.

Yes. When streets flood, stormwater and groundwater get into the sewer system through cracked pipes and manholes, the mains run full, and the lowest drains in nearby houses can back up. Homes with fixtures close to street level are most at risk.

A backwater valve on the sewer line lets waste flow out but closes if the sewer tries to flow back in. It needs a permit and a plumber to install, and it has to be kept clean to work. If your home has backed up in a storm before, ask about one before the next storm season.

Look for flexible grey plastic pipe, usually half an inch to an inch across, often stamped “PB2110”. Check where the water line enters the house, at the water heater, and under sinks and toilets. Outdoors, the main line from the meter may be blue or grey polybutylene.

Polybutylene was installed widely from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s, which is exactly when large parts of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake were built. If your home dates from those years and has not been repiped, there is a fair chance it is there. Do not confuse it with white CPVC or with modern PEX, which is usually red, blue or white.

Yes, plan to replace it. Polybutylene breaks down from the inside as it reacts with the disinfectants in treated water, so a pipe can look perfect on the outside and split without warning. It has not been installed in new homes since the mid-1990s.

It also matters when you buy, sell or insure a house: home inspectors flag it, and some insurers will not write or renew a policy on a home that still has it. A whole-house repipe in PEX or copper usually takes a few days, and the water is off only part of that time.

Homes built before about 1960 were commonly plumbed with galvanized steel water lines and cast-iron drains, with a clay sewer pipe running to the street. Some mid-century homes have a tar-and-fiber sewer pipe called Orangeburg. Copper took over for water lines after that.

Galvanized pipe rusts shut from the inside, which shows up as low pressure and brown water first thing in the morning. Cast iron lasts a long time but eventually cracks or rusts through along the bottom, sooner in a damp crawl space. Clay and Orangeburg laterals let roots in at the joints and can collapse.

Yes, they can. Winters here are mild, but every few years a hard freeze holds temperatures in the teens for a day or more, and pipes in crawl spaces, garages, attics and outside walls freeze. Because it is rare, most homes are not prepared for it.

When a hard freeze is forecast, disconnect garden hoses, close crawl-space vents, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, and let a thin stream of water run overnight from the faucets furthest from the meter. If a pipe does freeze, shut off the main water valve before it thaws, because that is when a split pipe starts to pour.

The common signs are a water bill that climbs for no reason, the sound of water running when everything is off, a warm spot on the floor, damp carpet or flooring, and a water meter that keeps turning with every tap closed.

Many ranch houses in South Hampton Roads were built on concrete slabs with copper water lines underneath. When one of those lines leaks, sandy soil washes away from it quickly. The usual repair is to re-route the line through the walls or attic rather than break up the floor, and a plumber can advise which makes sense for your house.

If the pressure is low at one fixture, the cause is usually a clogged aerator, a failing cartridge or a half-closed stop valve. If it is low everywhere, look at the main shut-off valve, a failing pressure-reducing valve, a hidden leak, or old galvanized pipe that has rusted nearly shut.

Normal household pressure is roughly 40 to 80 pounds per square inch. A plumber can put a gauge on a hose bib in a minute and tell you whether the problem is the supply or the piping. On a well, low or pulsing pressure usually points to the pressure tank or the switch.

Yes. Salt in the air speeds up corrosion on anything metal that is outdoors or in an open garage: hose bibs, outdoor showers, water heater jackets and fittings, gas piping and the straps that hold pipes up.

Homes within a few blocks of the ocean or the bay see it most. Choosing brass and stainless parts, keeping gas piping painted, and looking over a garage water heater once a year for rust at the base and the connections will catch most problems before they leak.

A tank water heater typically lasts about 8 to 12 years. Heaters that are flushed now and then and fitted with a working expansion tank tend to reach the upper end; heaters in salty, humid garages often rust at the base sooner.

You can read the age from the serial number on the rating label. Once a heater is past ten years, or shows rust at the bottom, moisture in the pan, or rumbling when it heats, it is wise to plan a replacement instead of waiting for it to fail on a weekend.

Repair it if the tank is sound and under about eight years old: heating elements, thermostats, gas controls, relief valves and leaking connections can all be replaced. Replace it if the tank itself is leaking or badly rusted, because a tank cannot be patched.

A plumber should tell you which it is, what each option costs, and how many years the repair is likely to buy. Water dripping from the relief valve pipe is often a pressure or expansion problem, not a failed heater.

Generally, yes. Under Virginia’s building code, replacing a water heater normally requires a permit and an inspection, in Virginia Beach and in the neighbouring cities. A licensed plumbing contractor pulls the permit as part of the job.

The inspection is there for good reasons: it checks the relief valve and its discharge pipe, the gas connection and venting or the electrical supply, the drain pan and thermal expansion. Ask any contractor who quotes the job whether the permit is included.

It is a small tank on the cold water line above the water heater that absorbs the extra volume when water is heated. You need one when the house has a check valve or pressure-reducing valve at the meter, because the expanding water then has nowhere else to go.

Without it, pressure climbs every time the heater fires, which makes the relief valve drip and wears out faucets, supply hoses and the heater itself. Expansion tanks lose their air charge over time, so they should be checked whenever the heater is serviced.

About 120°F suits most households. It is hot enough for showers and dishwashing, reduces the risk of scalding, and uses less energy than a higher setting.

If there are small children or older adults in the home, do not go higher without anti-scald valves at the fixtures. If the water has turned too hot or too cold without anyone touching the dial, a thermostat or control has probably failed. Have a plumber look at it; do not take gas controls apart yourself.

That noise is sediment. Minerals settle at the bottom of the tank and harden, and water trapped beneath the layer boils and bubbles up through it. It makes the heater work harder and shortens its life.

Flushing the tank can help if it is done regularly from the start. On an old heater that has never been flushed, the drain valve may clog or fail to close again, so it is better to have a plumber judge whether flushing is worth doing.

No, not until it has been inspected, and in most cases it should be replaced. Floodwater ruins gas valves, burners, electrical controls and the insulation around the tank, and a heater that seems to work afterwards can be unsafe.

Leave the power or gas off and do not try to relight it. Manufacturers and gas utilities advise replacing any gas control that has been under water. This is worth remembering in a region where garages and ground-level utility rooms flood.

In general the homeowner is responsible for the sewer lateral from the house to the property line or the city’s cleanout, and the city is responsible from there to the main. HRSD, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, runs the large regional pipes and the treatment plants.

That is why a good plumber asks whether you have called your city’s public utilities department. If the blockage is on the city’s side, the city clears it at no charge to you. One of our Norfolk customers wrote about exactly that: we asked whether she had called the city before we came out.

If more than one fixture is slow or backing up at once, especially the lowest ones, the stoppage is in the main line. Typical signs are a toilet that bubbles when the washing machine drains, or sewage rising in a tub or shower when a toilet is flushed.

A single slow sink or tub is a local clog. A main line stoppage needs clearing from the cleanout with a full-size sewer cable. Stop using water until it is cleared, because everything you send down has nowhere to go but back up.

A cleanout is a capped pipe, usually three or four inches across, that gives direct access to the sewer line. Most homes have one in the yard near the house and often a second near the property line or sidewalk.

It may be hidden under mulch or grass. Knowing where it is saves time and money in an emergency, because the plumber can clear the line from outside. If sewage is standing in the cleanout nearest the street, the blockage may well be on the city’s side.

Roots follow moisture. Older sewer laterals made of clay or cast iron have joints every few feet, and once a joint opens even slightly, fine roots find it and grow into a mass that catches everything passing by.

Cutting the roots with a cable clears the line but does not close the joint, so they return, typically within a year or two. A camera inspection shows whether the pipe is sound enough to keep cleaning or whether a section needs replacing.

Toilets are for waste and toilet paper only. Wipes, including those sold as flushable, paper towels, hygiene products and dental floss do not break down and are the main cause of blocked laterals and burnt-out sewage pumps.

In the kitchen, keep fats, oils and grease out of the sink: they cool and harden in the pipe. Pour them into a container and put it in the trash. Coffee grounds, rice and pasta are hard on disposals and drains as well. HRSD and the local cities run the same advice for a reason.

We advise against them. Caustic and acid drain cleaners rarely clear a real blockage; they sit in the pipe, attack older metal drains and rubber seals, and leave a hazard for whoever opens the line next.

A plunger or a small hand auger is safer for a simple sink or tub clog. If that does not work, the blockage is further down and needs a proper cable. Tell your plumber if a chemical has already been poured in.

Every three to five years for most households. In Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, which cover much of Tidewater, local rules generally require a pump-out at least once every five years, so check with your city.

Septic systems have a harder time here than inland because the water table is high and drain fields flood in wet seasons. Spread out laundry loads, fix running toilets promptly, and keep vehicles off the drain field. If drains are slow after heavy rain, ease off water use until the ground dries.

In most South Hampton Roads homes it is where the water line enters the house: on an outside wall near the front hose bib, in the garage, in a utility closet or beside the water heater. There is also a valve at the water meter, in a box in the ground near the street.

Find it today, make sure it turns, and show everyone in the household. Use it whenever a pipe bursts, a fitting lets go or a water heater leaks. If the house valve is stuck or missing, your city’s public utilities department can turn the water off at the meter.

Shut off the main water valve first. Then open a faucet at the lowest point of the house to drain the lines, switch off the water heater’s power at the breaker if it is electric, and call a plumber.

Keep away from any water that is near outlets or appliances. Move what you can out of the way, take photographs for your insurer, and start mopping and drying: in this climate, mold begins within a day or two.

Leave the building immediately, and call your gas utility’s emergency line or 911 from outside, well away from the house. Do not switch lights or appliances on or off, do not use a phone indoors, and do not look for the leak.

Virginia Natural Gas serves most of South Hampton Roads; the emergency number is on your bill. The utility makes the situation safe and may shut off and tag the line. After that, a properly licensed contractor repairs the piping under a permit so that service can be restored. Never try to repair gas piping yourself.

Before June, test your sump pump and any sewage pump alarm, find and exercise your main water shut-off, clear the yard cleanout so it can be reached, and know where your water heater’s breaker is. Hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November.

When a storm is approaching, fill clean containers with drinking water and a bathtub with water for flushing. If you evacuate, shut off the main water valve. A battery backup for a sump pump is worth considering, because the power usually fails in the same storm that brings the water.

Do not use a water heater, well pump or sewage pump that has been under water until it has been inspected. If you are on a well, treat the water as unsafe until it has been disinfected and tested. If you are on septic, use as little water as possible until the ground drains.

If you smell gas, leave and call the gas utility from outside. Listen to your city’s notices about boiling water. Then have a plumber look under the house: floodwater shifts pipe supports and fills crawl spaces with silt that hides leaks.

Anything that is causing damage right now or making the home unsafe: a burst or pouring pipe, sewage backing up into the house, a water heater leaking from the tank, no water at all, or a sewage pump alarm. A gas smell is an emergency for the gas utility or 911 first.

A dripping faucet, a single slow drain or a running toilet can wait for a normal appointment. If you are not sure, shut off the water to the fixture or the house and call. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm.

Use the License Lookup on the website of DPOR, the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Search by the business name, the person’s name or the license number, and it shows the license type, its status and when it expires.

There are two things to check. The company should hold a contractor license from the Board for Contractors with a plumbing classification. The person doing or supervising the work should hold a tradesman license as a journeyman or master plumber.

It is the highest tradesman license for plumbing issued by Virginia’s Board for Contractors. A master plumber has documented years of experience in the trade, has already qualified as a journeyman, and has passed a further examination on the plumbing code.

A master can plan and lay out plumbing work and supervise others, as well as do it. Tradesman licenses are renewed regularly and require continuing education on code changes. Johnny Eiban, who leads JME Plumbing, is a Master Plumber with 47 years of experience.

The class sets how large a job the company may take on. Class C covers the smallest projects, Class B covers mid-sized projects, and Class A has no limit on project value.

The dollar thresholds are set by state law and change from time to time, so check DPOR for the current figures. For a homeowner, the point is that the license class should match the size of the job, and the license should list the right specialty: plumbing for plumbing work, gas fitting for gas piping.

Yes. In our own words: “Senior Citizens, Churches & Christian Schools Discounts.” Mention it when you call.

That line is from our advertisement in the Shepherd’s Guide, a directory of Christian-owned businesses. Ask the office what the discount is when you arrange the work.

Yes. We serve both residential and commercial customers across South Hampton Roads, and churches and Christian schools receive a discount.

Commercial work includes restroom fixtures, water heaters, drain and sewer cleaning, and repairs. Call the office to talk through what your building needs.

Ask for the Virginia license number and check it with DPOR, ask whether the company is insured, ask whether a permit is required and who will pull it, and ask for the price and what it includes before work starts.

It is also fair to ask who will actually be doing the work and how long the company has been in business. Be wary of anyone who wants full payment up front, will not put a price in writing, or tells you a permit is never needed.

Yes. Virginia law requires a call to Virginia 811, also known as Miss Utility, before any digging, so that buried gas, electric, water and communications lines can be marked. The service is free; dial 811.

A plumbing contractor makes the call as part of the job. If you are digging yourself, even to plant a tree or set a fence post, call first and wait for the marks.