Tips, insights, and trenchless technology from the Done Right team
A multi-unit building near the Alaska Junction in West Seattle had its sump pit hidden inside a laundry room cabinet. Nick and Jeremy cleared the basin, checked the aging pump, opened up the access for future repairs and sealed the pit with a custom airtight lid, all in one April visit.
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What a trenchless water line replacement looks like on your property: which small pits get dug, why 811 comes first, what the conduit and tracer wire are for, whether your sprinklers keep working, how long the water is off and what the warranty covers.
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A drain in a Brier house kept running slow however often it was cleared. Nick and Jeremy found about twenty-five feet of old galvanized drain line in the crawlspace, narrowed from the inside by years of buildup, and replaced the whole run with larger two-inch ABS in a single morning visit.
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Galvanized water lines rust from the inside: the zinc coating wears away, the pipe narrows until the pressure fades, and the threads give out first. How that shows up in Seattle-area houses, what the lead rules say about galvanized pipe, and why we replace the whole run instead of patching it.
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Under a house in south Lynnwood, the crawlspace drain lines were leaking in several places and the toilet above was leaking at its base. Samuel, Joseph T. and Joseph P. traced the worst of it to an ABS fitting that had never been glued and a strip of plastic caught in a joint, replaced the failed sections and reset the toilet on a new flange, all in one visit.
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Most hidden leaks give themselves away to a two-hour meter test, and closing the main valve tells you whether the water is escaping inside the house or underground. How to check a toilet, why a ceiling can stain when the meter test passes, what a leak detection company adds, and what to do the moment you find a leak.
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Under a Kingsgate home in Kirkland, the horizontal drains in the crawlspace were still rusting galvanized steel. In one day of about six hours, Nick and Jeremy replaced every exposed run in new ABS, tied it into the sound pipe with shielded couplings and ran it to the toilet stack, then replaced a faucet cartridge and installed a new kitchen faucet.
Read MoreA sewer scope films the inside of your side sewer with a distance counter on screen, so roots, sags, cracks, failed cleanouts and blockages can be found to the foot. What the camera turns up in older Seattle-area lines, with the jobs where we found each one, and when to get a scope.
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At an Olympic Hills home in Lake City, a six-inch side sewer shared with the neighbors had settled and its old concrete was breaking apart. Ben, Jeremy and Joseph T. dug down to it, rebuilt the section and the wye in SDR 35 PVC on gravel with a new cleanout, and lined the shared run out to the city main.
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Between 50 and 70 psi suits most homes, and Washington's plumbing code requires a regulator above 80. How to test your own pressure, what high pressure does to valves and hoses, where your regulator is, and why a water heater's relief valve drips.
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A homeowner in the Highlands at Mill Creek bought a touch-activated Delta faucet and a glass rinser and asked for them installed properly. Jeremy fitted both in one visit, with the supplies, the solenoid and the rinser's own tee set right, and the kitchen back in service that afternoon.
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A Northtowne laundry room where the washer was draining into a bucket. Nick and Jeremy opened the wall, cut out the rusted galvanized standpipe, rebuilt the drain in two-inch ABS with a P-trap and a cleanout, and cabled the rest of the line before lunch.
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Roughly three quarters of the Seattle area's rain falls between October and March. Here are the eight things we check on our own houses before it starts: hoses and bibs, the water heater, the sump and crawlspace, the side sewer, downspouts, the main shutoff, the meter and exposed pipes.
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Ten to fifteen years is the rule, and Seattle tanks usually reach the top of it. Why the city's soft water stretches a heater's life, the signs it is about to fail, sizing and fit, and the City Light heat pump rebate.
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A look at the pipe materials we find on water service replacements around Seattle — galvanized steel, polybutylene, black poly, copper, and more — what tends to go wrong with each, and why we typically recommend PEX A for new installations.
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A water service leak can run up your bill for weeks before you notice it. Here is how responsibility is divided at the meter in the Seattle area, which utilities offer leak adjustments, and what you need to document to qualify.
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A leaking black poly water service on the east side of Mercer Island, replaced with new one-inch PEX pulled between two small pits, and a yard left as it was.
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Most water service replacements we do are trenchless and most spot repairs are open cut. Here is what decides it, what each costs, and jobs we did both ways.
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From a camera inspection to a full dig-and-replace, "sewer repair" spans a huge price range. Eight questions homeowners ask us most, answered with the real figures from our own jobs.
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A same-day water heater swap in Mill Creek — and everything around the tank that made it a complete installation instead of a fast one: stand, straps, expansion tank, new valves and a dated install.
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A buried water service almost never fails loudly. Eight signs we actually find behind failed water lines around Seattle and Snohomish County — and the five-minute meter test that settles the question.
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A Kenmore side sewer with no cleanout anywhere on the run — so Nick and Jeremy installed a two-way cleanout, cleared the line through it, and put a camera down to find the roots at fifteen feet.
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How we repaired a failing water service in Shoreline's Echo Lake blocks — locates called, the trench hand-dug beside a street tree, a new section clamped in, and the turf back down the same day.
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What water line replacement really costs in the Seattle area, what moves the price, and how to tell a spot repair from a full replacement. Nine questions, answered with real numbers.
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When Rebecca's Woodinville water bill tripled, she discovered another leak in her main water line. Here's how a full trenchless replacement — done the next day in under 5 hours — solved it for good.
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When Milo's water heater failed with warranty and parts complications, most companies would say “next week.” Here's how Done Right delivered same-day service anyway.
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There are quite a few misconceptions about plumbing that can lead to costly mistakes. We explore three of the most common ones — and how to avoid them.
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A practical guide to preparing for sewer backups — why they happen, how to keep your family safe, and what prevention steps can help avoid the worst.
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Trenchless water line replacement is changing what homeowners expect from a major plumbing job. Less digging, less mess, faster results — here’s how it works.
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