Around three quarters of the year's rain in the Seattle area falls between October and March, and a lot of the plumbing calls we take in winter trace back to something that could have been handled in October. This is the list we run on our own houses, in the order we run it, with the jobs that taught us each item.
1. Take the hoses off and look at the hose bibs
Disconnect every garden hose, drain it and put it away. A hose left on holds water inside the bib, which is how a bib cracks in the first hard freeze, and on a frost-free bib the hose stops it from draining at all. Then look at the bib itself: a drip at the handle that tightening does not cure is worn packing, and a weep at the little brass vacuum breaker on the spout is a part that costs almost nothing to replace now. A bib that cracks in a freeze can mean opening the wall in January. If the house has an interior shutoff for the outside taps, find it and turn it.
2. Look at the water heater before it works hardest
A water heater runs harder from November on, when the incoming water is colder. Check three things. The age on the data plate: past ten years a tank is living on its steel, and around here that is the usual cause of death, because Seattle's Tolt and Cedar water is so soft that tanks rarely die of scale. The relief valve discharge pipe: if it is wet or crusted, the tank is reaching its pressure limit, usually from high incoming pressure or a failed expansion tank rather than a bad valve. And the expansion tank itself: tap it, and if it is heavy and sloshes instead of ringing hollow at the top, its bladder has failed. A complete install in Mill Creek shows what the finished setup looks like, and our Seattle water heater questions cover how long a tank lasts here.
3. Test the sump pump and crawl the crawlspace
If the house has a sump, pour a bucket of water into the pit and watch the pump start, run and stop, then confirm the discharge line runs well away from the foundation. Then get under the house, or send us, before the ground is saturated, looking for standing water, wet insulation, a vapor barrier shoved aside and pipes sagging between hangers. In Lynnwood a corroded galvanized supply joint let go in a crawlspace and was rebuilt in copper from underneath, and in Mountlake Terrace weak kitchen taps traced to galvanized supply lines crusted shut under the floor. Neither would have been found from upstairs. Our sump pump page covers backups and crawlspace installs.
4. Have the side sewer looked at before the roots and the rain line up
A side sewer that is marginal in August becomes a backup in November, when saturated ground, root growth and a few extra inches of water find the weak point together. If the line has backed up before, or the house is over fifty years old and has never had a camera down it, fall is the time to look. In Ballard a side sewer that was backing up and pooling water at the foot of the exterior stairs was jetted back to full bore in one visit, and in Kenmore we cut a two-way cleanout into a line that had never had one, so every future clearing happens from grade.
5. Keep the roof water out of the sewer
Walk the outside of the house in the first real rain and watch where the downspouts go. Downspouts that discharge against the foundation feed the crawlspace, and on older Puget Sound houses they were sometimes tied into the side sewer, so every storm sends roof water down a pipe sized for sinks and toilets. A sewer that backs up only when it rains is telling you exactly that. Extend the downspouts away from the house, keep the footing drains clear of leaves, and if the sewer still surges in a storm, call for a camera.
6. Find the main shutoff and turn it
Before the season when pipes fail, know where the main shutoff is and prove it works: close it gently and open it again. A gate valve with a round wheel that will not move, or that moves and does not stop the water, should be replaced with a quarter-turn ball valve while nothing is wrong. A Woodinville water line replacement this spring finished with a new quarter-turn whole-home shutoff in the crawlspace, and a Bellevue slab job ended with a new valve set where the homeowner can reach it.
7. Read the meter for a leak you cannot see
With every fixture in the house off, look at the water meter. If it is still turning, water is leaving somewhere between the meter and the house, and that leak is on your side of the line. In Lake Stevens the first sign was a meter box full to the brim with water; in Kirkland an old clamped splice let go in December and was rebuilt in a pit seeping groundwater the whole time. Finding it in October means a dry pit. If a leak has already run up your bill, our guide to leak responsibility and utility adjustments explains what the utilities offer, and our leak detection page covers how we find one.
8. Insulate what is exposed, and know where the cold gets in
Puget Sound winters are mild until the week they are not, and the pipes that freeze are the ones in unheated space: a garage water heater's supply, the run to a hose bib, lines in a crawlspace with open vents. Foam sleeves on those runs, covers on the bibs and closed vents in a cold snap handle most of it. A pipe that has frozen before will freeze again in the same place, and rebuilding that run is an afternoon's work in the fall.
Fall Plumbing Questions
When should I take the garden hoses off in the Seattle area?
When you stop using them, rather than when the forecast says frost. The first hard freeze near Puget Sound usually waits until November or later, but a hose left on holds water inside the bib and defeats a frost-free fixture entirely, so there is no reason to wait. Drain the hoses, store them and check each bib for drips.
Is October too late to replace a water line before winter?
No, it is the best remaining month. The ground is still dry enough to bore and backfill cleanly, and a pit dug now stays dry in a way a December pit does not. A full meter-to-house replacement is usually a one-day job, so a leak found at the meter in October can be gone before the rains settle in.
What should I do if my crawlspace has standing water after the first storms?
Find where it comes from first, because the fix depends on it. Water pooling under the house after rain is usually surface water from downspouts or a saturated yard, which calls for drainage or a sump pump. Water that stands in dry weather points to a supply or drain leak, which we find with a meter test and a camera.
How do I know if my water heater's expansion tank has failed?
Tap it. A working expansion tank rings hollow at the top, where the air charge is, and sounds dull at the bottom. One that is heavy, sloshes or sounds solid all the way up has a failed bladder. The other tell is a relief valve that drips every time the heater runs, because the pressure has nowhere to go.
Our Recommendation
Do items 1, 6 and 7 yourself this weekend; they cost nothing but an hour and a flashlight. If the meter turns with the house off, the shutoff will not move or the relief pipe is wet, that is one visit for us, cheaper in October than in January. Items 3 and 4 are worth doing properly once in any house older than fifty years, and item 5 is the cheapest sewer insurance there is.
Get the Whole List Done in One Visit
Call 425-245-7552 for a free estimate, or request a callback, and tell us which items you want covered.
More: water heater repair · sump pump installation · drain cleaning · sewer line repair · leak detection · signs your water line is failing · emergency plumbing