Silver Spring businesses are served by WSSC Water for both water and sewer, and WSSC also handles plumbing and gasfitting permits and inspections here, not the county. Downtown restaurants, apartment buildings and offices call most often about clogged mains, failing water heaters and leaks. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Silver Spring.
Silver Spring at a glance
Silver Spring is an unincorporated edge city on the District line: a dense, mixed-use downtown wrapped by older neighborhoods inside the Beltway. The median home here dates to 1964, and plenty of commercial and apartment buildings along Georgia Avenue, Colesville Road and New Hampshire Avenue are of a similar vintage, which means aging drain lines, original shutoffs and water heaters that have been swapped more than once. The mailing area called Silver Spring also reaches past the core community into places such as Wheaton and Four Corners, but all of it is Montgomery County and WSSC territory.
What to do right now
- Stop the water. Close the fixture valve or the building main if a line is spraying or a drain is overflowing.
- Protect people and stock. Rope off wet floors and move inventory, paper records and electronics off the floor.
- Gas smell? Get everyone out, then call 911 and Washington Gas at 844-WASHGAS (844-927-4427), option 1, from outside.
- Public side trouble. A break in the street or sewage coming up from a manhole goes to WSSC Water at 301-206-4002.
- Tell tenants. If restrooms or kitchens are out, let them know before the lunch rush.
Symptoms and their likely causes
| What you notice | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Floor drains in a kitchen back up during service | Grease buildup in the line or an interceptor that needs pumping |
| Several restrooms gurgle or drain slowly at once | A partial blockage in the shared building drain |
| Lukewarm water by mid-morning | Undersized or sediment-filled water heater |
| Water stains on a ceiling below a restroom | Leaking wax seal, flush valve or supply connection |
| Rusty water after a shutdown | Older steel piping inside the building |
What affects the cost
- How many floors and units share the affected line
- Whether a camera inspection or jetting is needed to find the blockage
- Night or weekend scheduling to keep a dining room or office open
- Opening and patching finished walls and ceilings
- A WSSC permit and inspection, which WSSC Permit Services (301-206-4003) handles from its Lyttonsville depot for this part of the county
- Backflow devices, which WSSC's cross-connection program oversees (Montgomery County line 301-206-7932)
Commercial Plumbing questions in Silver Spring
What should staff do if they smell gas in the building?
Who do we call when a main breaks or the sewer backs up outside?
In leased space, who usually pays for plumbing repairs?
How should a restaurant keep grease out of the sewer line?
More plumbing services in Silver Spring
Commercial Plumbing nearby
Helpful guides
Sources
Last updated: