About half the homes in the City of Falls Church were built before 1971, so original galvanized and copper supply lines are common, and many are past the point where patching keeps up. A repipe replaces that pipe throughout the house. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Falls Church.
Falls Church in brief
The City of Falls Church is a small independent city just inside the Beltway where US 29 and VA 7 meet. Its median home dates to 1971, and the Falls Church mailing area reaches well beyond the city into Fairfax and Arlington counties, including places such as Seven Corners. Fairfax Water provides water to the city. It owns the service line up to and including the meter, and the line after the meter belongs to the owner.
What to do now
- Check your jurisdiction. Inside the city, permits come from the City of Falls Church Department of Code Administration on Park Avenue. Falls Church addresses outside the city are permitted by Fairfax County or Arlington County.
- Find and test the main shutoff. Older valves can seize; know where it is before work starts.
- Identify the pipe. Gray threaded steel means galvanized; copper is reddish-brown with soldered joints.
- Watch the water. Rust-colored water after the house sits overnight usually points to corroding steel.
- Keep a leak log. Dates and locations show whether failures are spreading.
- Report your service line. Fairfax Water's Lead Free Fairfax survey asks owners to identify the material on their side.
Symptoms and likely causes
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Brown water that clears after a minute | Rust from galvanized supply lines |
| Weak shower when the kitchen tap runs | Corrosion narrowing old pipe |
| Pinhole leaks in more than one room | Copper thinning with age |
| Drips at threaded joints near the heater | Corroded nipples and fittings |
| Valves that won't shut fully | Scale and wear on old valve parts |
Cost factors
- House size, number of floors and bathrooms
- Plaster walls, which take more care to open and patch
- Removing or abandoning old galvanized runs
- PEX, copper or both
- Replacing the owner's line from the meter at the same time
- New shutoffs and water heater connections
Fairfax Water's Potomac plant results average about 7.5 grains per gallon of hardness, so ask for fittings and valves that can be serviced easily as scale builds.
In older Falls Church homes, earlier repairs often swapped short sections of steel for copper and left the rest. A plumber who traces every run back to the main can make sure no old galvanized stretch is left hidden in a wall or under a floor, where it would keep shedding rust into the new lines.
Repiping questions in Falls Church
My mailing address uses the town's name, but I live outside its limits. Whose rules apply?
What kind of supply pipe is a house of this age likely to have?
Will a repipe fix weak water pressure?
Should the main shutoff and water heater connections be redone during the repipe?
More plumbing services in Falls Church
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