Burst Pipe Repair in Mount Rainier, MD

Mount Rainier's housing and water service

Mount Rainier began as an early-1900s streetcar suburb on the District line, and much of the city is a National Register historic district full of Craftsman homes and Sears kit houses. The median home was built in 1952. Houses that old are likely to have galvanized steel supply pipe, cast iron drains and older service lines in many cases, and galvanized pipe corrodes from the inside until it's thin enough to split under a hard freeze or a pressure spike.

WSSC Water provides water and sewer service; the city doesn't run its own system. Part of the water service line belongs to WSSC and part to the customer. For a break in the street or at the meter, call WSSC's emergency line, 301-206-4002. WSSC also publishes a lookup map showing what service line material is on record for each address. Plumbing permits and inspections come from WSSC, while the city's Code Compliance Department issues city building permits, so a larger repair that involves construction may need both.

Splice, section or repipe?

Signs of a burst line

• Water through plaster or a basement ceiling
• Rust-tinted spray from a gray steel pipe
• Pressure suddenly falling throughout the house
• A wet basement wall where the line enters from the street

Seasonal notes

Old houses with drafty basements, porch additions and pipes in uninsulated outside walls are most at risk during a run of freezing nights, and breaks often appear when the ice melts. Insulate exposed basement pipe, seal gaps around the rim joist and disconnect hoses in the fall. WSSC's tap testing shows hardness averaging about 140 mg/L from its Potomac plant and about 65 mg/L from its Patuxent plant; that mainly affects fixtures and heaters, not pipe bursts. If you smell gas, leave and call 911 or Washington Gas at 844-WASHGAS (844-927-4427), option 1.