Everything we have on plumbing — what fails, why, what it costs, and which of it you can handle without calling anyone.

Homes built before about 1940

Pre-war construction — galvanized supply, cast iron drains, cloth-wrapped wiring, ungrounded circuits.

• Pressure drops at every fixture at once
• Every drain in the house is slow, not just one
• Rusty water only on the first draw
• The main shutoff will not turn
• Sewer backs up in the lowest fixture after heavy rain
• Sewer smell from a room nobody uses
• Hose bib with no vacuum breaker
• Stain on the ceiling directly under a bath
• Laundry standpipe overflows on the spin cycle

Homes built roughly 1940 to 1980

Post-war and mid-century — copper supply, aging cast iron stacks, 60 to 100 amp panels, first-generation central air.

• Pinhole leaks in copper, more than one
• Sewer line collapsed and the house is 1945–1972
• Cast iron stack weeping at the joints
• Angle stop under the sink will not close
• Water heater rusting at the base in an attached garage
• Copper at the meter, galvanised behind the wall
• Rubber washing machine hoses
• Pressure over 80 psi at the hose bib
• Floor drain backing up in the utility room

Homes built roughly 1980 to 2000

The polybutylene and aluminum-wiring window, 150 amp panels, R-22 systems and first-cycle architectural shingle.

• Gray plastic supply line, leaking at the fitting not the pipe
• Warm patch on the slab, water bill up, nothing visible
• Water heater is the second one and it is over ten
• One fixture slow, the rest fine
• Toilet runs intermittently with nobody near it
• Regulator original to the house
• Sillcock split after a hard freeze
• Dishwasher draining back into the sink
• Drain leak under the slab, PVC not copper

Homes built since 2000

PEX on slab, 200 amp service, builder-grade equipment that reaches end of life across a whole street at once.

• Warm spot on the floor in a house under twenty-five years old
• Fixtures failing across the house in the same year
• Tankless unit throwing an error and short-cycling
• No hot water but the burner is firing
• Water hammer when an appliance shuts off
• Cannot isolate one bathroom without shutting the house
• Hot water instantly, and a high gas bill
• Expansion tank at the water heater feels heavy
• Toilet refills with a bang rather than a hiss

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Written by Jaylan Jones. I Like To Fix earns a referral fee when a call connects to a contractor. See our business-model disclosure.