Services
What we do in an old house
Five kinds of work. Every job starts with a walk-through and ends with a written scope.
Supply lines
Galvanized, copper and mixed runs. We open the wall at as few points as we can, test the pipe at the cut, and tell you in writing whether the run is a repair or a replacement.
Short repairs and full runs
Copper, sweated and supported the way the house was built
A map of which pipe is which, drawn before anything is cut
Drains and stacks
Cast iron, old branches and traps. If the iron rings sound we repair the joint or the splice; if it flakes, we show you and replace that section.
Hub and spigot repairs
Traps rebuilt on the original line
Patched stacks made honest
Radiators and old heat
Hot-water and steam piping, valves and radiator connections. We work on the plumbing side of the system.
Valves, packing and risers
Radiators reconnected after floors or plaster are redone
A referral when the boiler needs a different trade
Brass and period fixtures
Taps, clawfoot tubs, pedestal sinks and cross-handle valves. We rebuild on the original parts where they will hold, and lay out reproductions as a choice.
Seats, stems and washers made to fit
Supplies and valves for clawfoot tubs
Original trim kept and re-set
Opening walls, closing them back
The part that makes an old house nervous. We plan the openings with you, protect the room and leave the wall ready for your plasterer.
Cuts along the lath, not through it
Access panels where they make sense
Photos before and after, sent to you
How a job gets priced
No two walls match, so we don't quote from a price list. These are the six answers we give before any estimate.
What decides the price
Five things move the number more than any others.
How much of the wall has to open, and what is behind it: plaster on lath, brick or tile
What the pipe turns out to be, and how much of it is sound
Whether a fixture is repaired, rebuilt or replaced with a period reproduction
Access: a crawl space, a tight chase or a finished room
Whether the work needs review by a preservation board
What the estimate includes, and what it doesn't
The estimate is for plumbing: labor, pipe, fittings, permits we pull and the patching of what we opened where that is plumbing's job.
Not in it: plaster, paint, tile, wallpaper and flooring
Not in it: a preservation board's application fees
Not in it: what we cannot see until the wall is open, which we write up as options
What happens at the visit
A walk-through of an hour or two. We find the shutoff, photograph the lines we can reach and open at most one small inspection point, with your say.
There is a charge for the visit, set by the shop
It is credited toward the work if you hire us for the job
When you get the number
In writing, before we open a wall: a price for what we can see, and written options for what the wall may hide.
If the job changes
If we open a wall and find something else, we stop, photograph it and write a change in plain words before going on. You pick: repair it, replace it, or leave it for later.
Nothing is added without your written yes
After hours
We are a weekday shop and take no night calls. If water is running, shut off the main and call a plumber who answers at night. Then call us the next morning for a repair-first look.
We don't charge a night rate because we don't take night calls
Questions
Questions about the work
Do I have to repipe the whole house?
Not always. We cut at a few points to see how much bore is left in the old pipe. Sometimes one run is bad and the rest is sound, and sometimes the whole house is the same age and the same shape. We write down which.
Do you do radiators and old boilers?
We do the piping, valves and radiator connections for hot-water and steam systems. Boiler replacement and sizing is a different trade; we will tell you who we would call.
Can you work on a clawfoot tub or a pedestal sink?
Yes. We rebuild the valves and supplies, re-seat the drain and set the fixture back on its own feet. Reproduction fixtures are a choice we lay out for you, not a default.
Do you pull permits?
Yes, where the work needs one. The permit is part of the written scope, and the inspector sees the same photos you do.
See the house before we quote it
A walk-through is how every job starts. Tell us what you know and we will set a time.