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Austin Plumbing
Austin Plumbing Depends on When Your House Was Built
Austin has three kinds of plumbing, and the year on your deed tells us which one you have. In the central neighborhoods, Hyde Park, Crestview, Tarrytown, the pier-and-beam houses from the 1930s to the 1960s often still carry galvanized steel supply lines that have narrowed with rust and cast iron drains that are near the end of their life. In the suburbs that went up from the 1980s through the early 2000s, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Kyle and Buda, the house sits on a slab over clay soil that swells and shrinks with the rain, and the water heater is usually in the attic. And in the newer subdivisions in Leander, Hutto, Manor and Mueller, the plumbing is PEX and the water heater may be tankless, but hard water is already leaving scale in both.
We have worked on all three since 1999, in more than 10,000 Central Texas homes. That matters when the fix for a low-pressure complaint in Crestview is a repipe, and the fix for the same complaint in Round Rock is a clogged pressure-reducing valve. Our full plumbing services page explains each service in depth; the pages below are the Austin versions of the ones homeowners here call about most.
- Austin plumbers since 1999 More than 25 years in the same houses, soil and water you live with.
- Home Comfort Guarantee A written quote before work, honored 72 hours, and a 10% inconvenience refund up to $1,000 if we cannot resolve the issue.
- Licensed and background-checked Every plumber we send is licensed, trained, background-checked and bonded.
Common Austin Plumbing Calls
What Austin Homeowners Call a Plumber About
Most of these are cheaper to fix the week you notice them than the month after.
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The water bill jumped and nothing changed
The first sign of a slab leak in a Round Rock, Kyle or Pflugerville home. Clay soil moves the slab, and the copper under it eventually gives.
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Low pressure in an older central home
Galvanized pipe rusts from the inside until a half-inch line flows like a straw. Common in pre-1960s Hyde Park and Crestview houses that have never been repiped.
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A ceiling stain under the attic water heater
Attic tanks are standard in Austin suburbs. A drip from the tank or the relief valve shows up on drywall long after it started.
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White crust on every faucet and showerhead
Austin’s lake-fed water is hard, and Hill Country well water is often harder. The scale you see on fixtures is also inside your water heater and valves.
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Gurgling drains after a heavy rain
Older sewer lines under live oaks and pecans let roots and groundwater in. Gurgling is the line telling you it is partly blocked.
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A hose bib or attic line that split in a freeze
February 2021 taught Austin what an uninsulated attic pipe does at 10 degrees. Some of those splits still show up as slow leaks years later.
Plumbing Services in Austin
What Our Austin Plumbers Handle
One licensed crew for repairs, replacements and the emergencies in between, across the whole Austin area.
- Repairs and fixtures Running toilets, dripping faucets, failed shutoff valves, garbage disposals and the pressure-reducing valves that fail quietly in the suburbs.
- Leak detection and slab leaks Electronic and acoustic leak location under slabs and behind walls, with the repair options explained before we cut anything. Our Austin leak detection service covers the details.
- Water heaters, tank and tankless Repair, replacement and descaling for the attic and garage units in Austin homes. See Austin water heater repair.
- Drain and sewer cleaning Cabling, hydro jetting and camera inspection of cast iron, clay and PVC lines, backed by our no-backup promise. Start with Austin drain cleaning.
- Water softeners and filtration Sized for Austin’s hard water and installed where the main enters the house. Read more under Austin water softeners.
- Repiping and water lines Replacing galvanized, polybutylene and failed copper with PEX or copper, and repairing the yard line from the meter to the house.
- Gas lines Leak testing, repairs and new runs for ranges, dryers, water heaters and outdoor kitchens, permitted and pressure-tested.
- Emergency plumbing Burst pipes, failed water heaters and sewer backups, 24 hours a day at the same price as a weekday. See Austin emergency plumbing.
How It Works
What a Plumbing Visit in Austin Looks Like
The same steps in Buda or Georgetown, at noon or at midnight.
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Tell us what you are seeing
Call or book online any hour. A stain, a sound, a bill: describe it and we will book the soonest window that works for you.
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We find the actual cause
A licensed plumber tests pressure, checks the meter, and traces the problem to its source instead of patching the symptom.
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You get the price in writing
Itemized, honored for 72 hours, no hidden fees. If replacing something makes more sense than repairing it, we say so and let you decide.
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We do the work and clean up
Permitted where the city requires it, tested before we leave, and backed by the Home Comfort Guarantee.
Current Specials
Save on the work your home needs most.
Need a Plumber in Austin?
Licensed, background-checked plumbers around the clock, with the price agreed before the work.
What Our Customers Say
Don't just take our word for it — hear from our satisfied customers
★★★★★
I had Radiant Plumbing replace my tankless water heater, damaged in the Feb. 2021 snowmageddon storm with a new unit. The process was smooth and professional from start to finish. The plumber, James, was extremely knowledgeable and thoroughly explained my options to me. The cost and time to perform the installation were just as estimated. When he was done, James explained how to maintain the system, what service would be needed and how to perform it, and answered all of my engineering geek questions. It was a thoroughly positive experience. I have used several different plumbers in Austin over the past 15 yrs, but my search is over - I will not hesitate to call Radiant next time and would recommend them unreservedly.
8/9/23 Update: I have subsequently used Radiant for a toilet repair, faucet installation (Danny), and drain work (Ezekiel) and they have continued to impress with knowledgeable, friendly plumbers and quality work.
8/9/23 Update: I have subsequently used Radiant for a toilet repair, faucet installation (Danny), and drain work (Ezekiel) and they have continued to impress with knowledgeable, friendly plumbers and quality work.
★★★★★
We called Radiant Plumbing after we noticed a water leak in our kitchen. We were in a time crunch and they were able to schedule us quickly, before we left for vacation. They sent their representative, Preston Nichols, and he was excellent to deal with! He was on time, skillful, friendly, and very professional. It turned out to be a problem with our dishwasher but Preston was quick to diagnose it and set our minds at ease. While he was here, we mentioned that our one year-old water heater needed to be flushed. Preston was quick to take care of that, as well, saving us time and money in the process. Radiant charged us almost half the price another plumber quoted us for that service! While Radiant Plumbing isn’t our usual plumber, they gained a new customer. We won’t hesitate to call Radiant again in the future based on our VERY positive experience with them.
★★★★★
Had 3 different systems installed by them approx. 3 years ago for a total of approx $20k. I was quite happy with the install until the year later when they came for a maintenance call and started finding deficiencies in their own install. they wanted extra money to address those deficiencies. Now I am in the process of selling my home and an inspector has found a few items that need to be addressed and they will not even look at the report unless I schedule a $139.00 service call. Very poor customer service.. This company does not stand by their work and would not recommend.
I am revising my review of this business from 1 to 5 stars. After my original review I was contacted by the company's service manager and he made sure that I was taken care off. I had a team of 3 technicians coming to my house to double check the system and make the necessary adjustments. I was very satisfied by their attention to details and professionalism.
I am revising my review of this business from 1 to 5 stars. After my original review I was contacted by the company's service manager and he made sure that I was taken care off. I had a team of 3 technicians coming to my house to double check the system and make the necessary adjustments. I was very satisfied by their attention to details and professionalism.
Maintenance Membership
Join the Care Club
Home maintenance for $9.99 a month.
Care Club members get two HVAC tune-ups and a plumbing safety inspection every year, priority scheduling, no dispatch fees — ever — and 5% off every repair.
- Priority scheduling
- Seasonal HVAC tune-ups
- Annual safety inspection
- Exclusive member discounts
- Free dispatch on repairs
- No long-term contracts
Austin Plumbing Questions
Do you work on older Hyde Park and Crestview houses that still have original plumbing?
Yes, and we do a lot of it. Pre-1960s central Austin homes often have galvanized steel supply lines, cast iron or clay drains, and pier-and-beam crawl spaces that make access different from a slab house. We repair what can be repaired and tell you honestly when a section has reached the point where patching costs more than replacing it. Repiping an older house is usually done in stages if you prefer, and we can camera the drain line so you know its condition before you decide anything. See repiping for what that involves.
Which Austin suburbs do your plumbers cover?
Our Austin plumbers work from the Reinli Street office across the metro: Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Hutto, Taylor and Elgin to the north and east; Buda, Kyle, Manchaca and Del Valle to the south; Dripping Springs, Driftwood and Spicewood in the Hill Country; plus Manor, Coupland and Liberty Hill. Pricing is the same everywhere we go, and there is no surcharge for the drive. The full list is on our Austin service area page. San Antonio and its suburbs are served by our separate San Antonio office.
My Round Rock house was built in 1991. Should I worry about polybutylene pipe?
It is worth checking. Grey polybutylene supply pipe was common in homes built from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s, including many Round Rock, Pflugerville and Cedar Park subdivisions, and it becomes brittle with age. Not every house from that era has it, and a house that has it is not an emergency, but a plumber can confirm what you have in a few minutes at the water heater or under a sink. If it is polybutylene, we will explain what a repipe to PEX involves so you can plan it rather than meet it as a burst line at 2 a.m.
Do I need a permit for plumbing work in Austin?
For most replacement work, yes. The City of Austin and the suburbs generally require a permit for water heater replacement, repiping, gas line work and sewer line replacement, and some require an inspection afterward. Minor repairs such as a faucet or a toilet flapper do not. We handle the permit as part of the job and price it into the written quote, so there is nothing to pull yourself and nothing extra on the invoice. Unpermitted work can also come back to bite you when you sell the house, so it is worth doing right the first time.
What does the Care Club plumbing inspection cover in an Austin home?
Care Club members get an annual whole-home plumbing safety inspection along with two HVAC tune-ups a year, for $9.99 a month. On the plumbing side, we check the water heater and its relief valve, the pressure-reducing valve and static pressure, visible supply lines and shutoffs, drains, and the hose bibs that freeze first. In Austin that inspection catches the things that fail here: attic tank corrosion, scale, and pressure that has drifted high. Members also get 5% off repairs, no dispatch fees and priority scheduling. Details are on the Care Club page.
*Offers cannot be combined with other promotions or applied to dispatch fees. No cash value. Must present offer at time of service. Call for details.
