Commercial Plumbing in Annandale, VA

Annandale's buildings and utilities

Annandale grew fast after World War II, and its median home was built in 1968, among the oldest housing stocks in the county. Many of the strip centers and low-rise buildings along Little River Turnpike and Columbia Pike come from the same era. Original cast iron drains, older shutoff valves and long underground runs to the street all show their age, especially under the load of the restaurants in Annandale's Korean-American business district.

Fairfax Water supplies the area from the Potomac River and the Occoquan Reservoir. Its finished water tests moderately hard to hard, averaging about 7.5 grains per gallon from the Potomac plant, so dish machines, steam tables and storage heaters scale up. The utility owns the meter; the line from the meter or street valve into the building is the owner's. Fairfax County owns the sewer mains and the owner owns the private lateral, which the County will not locate or mark.

Permits come from Fairfax County Land Development Services through PLUS, and the County requires a Household Appliance permit to replace a gas water heater even like-for-like, with a plumbing permit for new gas piping. Fairfax County's cross-connection program requires testable backflow assemblies to be tested at installation, after repair and at least once a year.

Common jobs at older commercial buildings

Signs it's time to call

• Kitchen drains slowing between cleanings
• Rusty water after a weekend shutdown
• A backflow test notice past its due date
• Sewer smell in a back room or basement storage area

Seasonal notes

Older buildings tend to have pipes in exterior walls and unheated back rooms, so hard freezes bring burst-pipe calls. Heavy summer storms can push water into basements and overwhelm floor drains. If sewage backs up, call Fairfax County's 24-hour line at 703-323-1211 to rule out the main. For a gas smell, leave the building and call 911 and Washington Gas at 844-WASHGAS (844-927-4427), option 1, from outside.