Expert Plumbing Services in Rochester, New York

Rochester's lake-effect winters do their worst damage in the thaw, not the freeze. Water expands as it ices up inside a hose bibb or a supply line run through an unheated crawl space, and the split shows itself when everything melts. We thaw frozen lines carefully — never with an open flame — repair the burst section, then fix the cause: frost-proof sillcocks, insulation on exposed runs, and heat where the house design leaves pipes in the cold. A short winterizing visit in fall prevents most of these calls.

Thousands of Rochester homes still have lead or galvanized service lines connecting them to the city main, and the city is working through a program to replace every lead line by 2030 at no cost to homeowners. If your line predates the mid-1980s, it's worth knowing what it's made of. We can identify the material at the meter and the foundation wall, explain where your home sits in the replacement effort, and handle the private-side replacement — including excavation, the new tap, and full surface restoration.

At 5 grains per gallon, Rochester's supply is moderately hard — not extreme, but enough to lay scale on water heater elements and tank bottoms year after year. Scale makes burners and elements work harder and eventually kills tanks early. Annual flushing, checking the anode rod, and sensible thermostat settings all stretch a heater's life. When replacement makes more sense than another repair, we size the new unit to your household's actual hot-water use, not just to whatever was there before.

The mature maples and oaks shading streets around Park Avenue and the South Wedge are beautiful — and their roots are relentless about finding moisture. Old clay tile laterals, joined every few feet, practically invite roots in through the joints. The first sign is usually a drain that slows after rain or a basement floor drain that gurgles. A camera inspection shows exactly where the intrusion is; from there it's a choice between periodic cutting, lining the pipe, or full replacement, and we'll tell you honestly which fits.

When March snowpack melts into ground that's still frozen, water has nowhere to go but toward foundations — especially in low areas near the Genesee. A sump pump that sat idle all winter can seize, and a discharge line can freeze solid and send water right back at the house. We test pumps before melt season, clear and re-pitch discharge lines so they drain instead of icing up, and install battery backups for the storms that take the power with them.

In Corn Hill, the South Wedge, and other 19th-century blocks, galvanized steel supply lines are rusting from the inside — which is why shower pressure keeps dropping and the water sometimes runs discolored. Cast-iron drain stacks scale shut over the decades until a bathroom group drains like it's breathing through a straw. Full repipes are sometimes the answer, but often a targeted section replacement buys years. We scope it first and replace what's actually failing.