Plumbers in Brookeville, MD

One of the county's oldest towns

Brookeville was established in 1794 and incorporated in 1808, and its core is a National Register historic district. Once a farming town, it is now an affluent residential community about 19 miles from downtown Washington, at the northern edge of the suburbs. MD 97 (Georgia Avenue), Brookeville Road, Brighton Dam Road and New Hampshire Avenue lead in, and the Madison House is its best-known landmark.

Very old houses

The median home in town dates to 1940, among the oldest of any place in the region. Houses that old have usually been replumbed in pieces over the decades, so a single home can have original cast iron or galvanized pipe next to modern copper and PEX. Typical calls include tracing leaks in old walls and floors, replacing galvanized lines that have lost pressure, fixing old basement drains and keeping pipes in uninsulated spaces from freezing.

Water, sewer and the reservoir

The county's Water and Sewer Plan lists WSSC Water as both the water and sewer provider for the Town of Brookeville. Triadelphia Reservoir on the Patuxent River, close to town, is one of the reservoirs WSSC draws drinking water from, and WSSC treats Potomac River water too. Its report lists residual chlorine as the disinfectant. Outside the town limits, in the wider 20833 area, service varies by address and some homes may be on private wells, so check your bill or the county's category for your property. WSSC's emergency line is 301-206-4002.

WSSC is responsible for the service line from the water main to the property line, and the owner from the property line into the house. WSSC says it removed all known lead pipe from its distribution system in the early 2000s and asks customers to help verify their own pipe material on its service line map.

Permits and backflow

WSSC Water issues plumbing permits across the Washington Suburban Sanitary District and inspects plumbing and gasfitting in Montgomery County (Permit Services, 301-206-4003); most plumbing work has to be done by someone holding a WSSC license. The Town has its own planning and zoning authority, so exterior or structural work tied to a plumbing project may need a town approval. Testable backflow assemblies on irrigation and some fire sprinkler systems need a test every year by a certified cross-connection technician; homeowners may only rebuild or replace non-testable devices.

Gas

Check your bill to see which gas utility serves you, or whether the house uses propane or electricity. If you smell gas, leave first, then call 911 and your gas utility, or your propane supplier, from outside.

Calling

Tell us whether you are inside the town and what is happening. You will be connected with an independent local plumber who sets price and timing with you.