Expert Plumbing Services in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

When Arctic air pushes into South Louisiana, exposed plumbing is the first casualty. Hose bibbs, pipes in unheated garages and crawl spaces, and water lines running through exterior walls freeze and split — and the break usually announces itself as a gusher at thaw. The January 2025 freeze reminded plenty of Baton Rouge homeowners how fast it happens. Ahead of a freeze, pull every hose off its bibb, wrap exposed runs in crawl spaces and garages, and keep faucets on exterior walls dripping through the coldest hours. If a pipe has already split, we cut out the damaged section, replace it, and add insulation and accessible shutoffs so the next cold snap is a non-event.

Parts of Baton Rouge sit on clay-heavy soil that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, and that movement works on slab foundations year after year. Copper lines buried under a slab can develop pinhole leaks where the concrete shifts against them. The warning signs are subtle: a warm spot on the floor, the sound of running water when nothing is on, a water bill that creeps up, or damp baseboards. We pinpoint slab leaks with acoustic listening and thermal imaging, then fix them with the least invasive route — often rerouting overhead instead of jackhammering the floor.

Mid City and the Garden District are full of homes built when cast iron drains and galvanized supply lines were standard. Decades later, the cast iron scales and narrows from the inside while the galvanized steel rusts, so pressure fades and clogs become routine. Rust-colored water in the morning is the classic tell. We scope drains with a camera to map the damage and test pressure at several fixtures. Many owners repipe in phases — the failing runs first — and we plan it so each phase leaves the house fully working.

Oak and pine roots don't care about property lines, and the joints of old clay or Orangeburg sewer lines are easy entry points. A root hair slips through a gap, thickens over a season or two, and suddenly the line catches everything. If one bathroom backs up every few months and snaking only buys time, roots are the prime suspect. We clear them with cutters or hydro jetting, camera the line to find every intrusion, and where the pipe is otherwise sound, seal it with an internal liner so the roots stay out for good.

Louisiana's plumbing code requires backflow protection on lawn sprinkler and irrigation systems, because a pressure drop can siphon lawn chemicals and stagnant water backward into your clean supply. The devices that prevent it — double-check valves and pressure vacuum breakers — have internal parts that wear, stick, and crack. We install, test, and replace these assemblies, and we check the rest of your cross-connections (hose bibbs, utility sinks) while we're at it. If your irrigation hasn't been looked at in years, it's overdue.

Not every pressure problem is the city's doing. In older Baton Rouge homes, galvanized supply lines choke down with internal rust until the shower is a trickle. Elsewhere, a failing pressure regulator, a partially closed main valve, or sediment-clogged fixture aerators are the culprits. We start at the hose bibb with a gauge to see what the house is actually receiving, then work inward — cleaning aerators, checking the regulator, and scoping supply lines — until we find where the pressure is being lost and fix that specific thing.