Summit County · Ohio
Plumbers in Akron, OH
Akron grew fast around the rubber industry, which means street after street of houses built within a few years of each other and now well over a century old. Add a combined sewer network that the city has spent years separating, and the local plumbing picture is about where stormwater goes as much as where waste goes. Our Akron plumbers work on both.
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Local plumbing problems
What goes wrong with plumbing in Akron
Roof water going into the wrong system
In older Akron housing it is common to find downspouts connected directly into the sanitary drain rather than discharging to the ground. That sends an entire roof's worth of stormwater into a system designed for waste, and it is one of the reasons a property backs up during heavy rain when it is fine the rest of the year.
Sewer backups during heavy rain
Much of the older network carries stormwater and sewage together, and when it fills, pressure works back toward the properties connected to it. The lowest opening in the house, usually a basement floor drain, is where that shows up.
Cohort ageing in rubber-era housing
Whole neighbourhoods here were built within a few years of each other for the same workforce, using the same materials. A century later that means the drainage, the supply pipework and the water heaters on a street tend to reach the end of their lives at the same time.
Freezing in uninsulated old housing
Housing built before insulated wall cavities, in a climate with sustained winter cold, produces predictable freeze damage. Pipe against exterior walls, in unheated basements and in spaces with an air path to the outside is what splits.
Basement water on sloping ground
Akron's terrain is hilly, and on a slope water travels through the ground laterally and arrives against the uphill wall of a basement rather than rising from underneath. That changes the fix from a pump inside to drainage and grading outside.
Where does your roof water go?
It is a question almost nobody can answer about their own house, and in older Akron housing the answer is often one that causes problems.
Downspouts are supposed to discharge to the ground, clear of the building, or into a stormwater system where one exists. In a great deal of older housing here they were instead piped directly into the sanitary drain.
That means every time it rains, an entire roof’s worth of water is being pushed into a system designed for household waste, at exactly the moment that system is least able to take it.
The city has spent years separating stormwater from sewage across the older network, and the property-level version of that same work is disconnecting downspouts.
It is usually a straightforward job. The important detail is where the water then goes: far enough from the wall that it does not simply soak back down against the foundation, which trades one problem for another.
If your basement backs up during heavy rain and is fine the rest of the year, this is worth checking before anything else.
Two causes, one symptom
A wet weather backup has two possible sources and they need different work, so it is worth separating them.
Your own stormwater load. Downspouts feeding the sanitary drain, as above. That is self-inflicted, and disconnecting them removes it.
The wider network. Much of the older system carries stormwater and sewage together. In sustained rain it fills, pressure works back toward the properties connected to it, and waste appears at the lowest opening in the house, usually a basement floor drain. Nothing you do inside your property changes that.
For the second, a backwater valve on the house drain is the answer. It closes when flow tries to reverse and isolates the building until the system recovers.
Plenty of properties here have both problems, which is why the sequence matters: disconnect what you are contributing, then protect against what arrives from outside.
Streets that were built together, fail together
Akron grew around the rubber industry, and it built housing the way industry does: quickly, in quantity, for a workforce, in neighbourhoods completed within a couple of years of each other.
Goodyear Heights, Firestone Park, Kenmore and the other worker neighbourhoods share a construction date, a set of materials and a plumbing layout.
A century on, the consequence is that things fail together rather than at random. The clay or cast iron lateral is the same age up and down the street. So is the supply pipework. So, roughly, are the water heaters that have been replaced on similar cycles since.
The practical use of that is straightforward: a neighbour’s problem is information about your house. If houses on your street are having laterals replaced, it is worth knowing the condition of yours rather than waiting to find out.
Damp on the uphill wall
Akron is hilly, and that changes how water reaches a basement.
On flat ground, water rises. Groundwater comes up and a sump system pumps it out, which works.
On a slope, a lot of water travels laterally. It moves down through the soil along the hillside and meets your foundation on the way past. That is why basement damp here so often concentrates specifically on the wall facing uphill.
A sump pump does not stop that. It removes water that has already entered, which is useful, but it is not the same as keeping it out.
What addresses it is outside the building: ground regraded to fall away from the wall rather than toward it, downpipes discharging well clear, gutters actually running, and in more serious cases a drainage system installed outside the foundation to intercept water before it reaches the structure.
Diagnosing which of the two you have before spending is worth the effort, because the right solution to the wrong problem does not get any cheaper.
Akron housing and infrastructure
The local factors that most often determine what a plumber finds and how a repair is done here.
Stormwater separation as a live local issue
Akron has spent years separating stormwater from sanitary sewage across its older network. For a property owner that raises a practical question that many have never considered: where does your roof water actually go? Downspouts plumbed into the sanitary drain are common in older housing here and they contribute directly to wet weather backups.
A city built in one industrial wave
The rubber industry drove Akron's growth, and it built housing quickly and in quantity. That produces strong cohort effects: streets that share a construction date share materials, layouts and, a century later, failure timing.
Hilly terrain
The city is not flat, and on sloping ground water moves through the soil laterally. That is why basement dampness here so often concentrates on the wall facing uphill, and why exterior drainage matters more than an interior pump for that particular problem.
Sustained winter cold
Winters are long enough and cold enough that the ground freezes deep and exposed pipework is genuinely at risk. Burial depth for buried lines and freeze protection for interior runs are design considerations rather than seasonal precautions.
Areas of Akron we serve
Neighborhoods and districts
- Highland Square
- West Hill
- North Hill
- Goodyear Heights
- Firestone Park
- Kenmore
- Ellet
- Merriman Valley
- Wallhaven
- Fairlawn Heights
- Cascade Valley
- University Park
- Chapel Hill area
- Sherbondy Hill
- Downtown Akron
- Lane-Wooster
ZIP codes we serve in Akron
44301–44317, 44319–44321, 44325–44326, 44328, 44333, 44372, 44396, 44398
From our approved service-area list. If your ZIP is not shown, call and we will check.
Nearby communities on our service list: Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Barberton, Tallmadge, Hudson, Kent, Munroe Falls, Fairlawn, Green.
Plumbers near Akron
Other cities in the area with their own local plumbing pages.
Questions
Akron plumbing questions
Where should my downspouts discharge?
Onto the ground, well clear of the foundation, or into a stormwater system if one serves your property, but not into the sanitary drain. In older Akron housing it is common to find them piped directly into the waste system, which sends an entire roof's worth of rainwater into pipes meant for household waste. It contributes to backups during heavy rain and it puts load on a system that has other things to do. Disconnecting them is usually straightforward, and the discharge needs to end up far enough from the wall that the water does not simply come back.
My basement backs up only when it rains hard. What is happening?
Two things are worth separating. The first is whether your own roof water is being sent into the sanitary drain, which is common in older housing here and is a self-inflicted version of the problem. The second is the wider network: much of the older system carries stormwater and sewage together, and when it fills, pressure works back toward connected properties. A backwater valve on the house drain protects the building from the second. Disconnecting downspouts addresses the first.
My whole street seems to be having the same problems. Why?
Because it was built at the same time. Akron's rubber-era growth produced neighbourhoods constructed within a couple of years of each other, by the same trades, with the same materials. A century on, the drainage, supply pipework and water heaters on that street reach the end of their lives together. It is a good reason to treat a neighbour's failed lateral or burst pipe as information about your own house rather than as their misfortune.
My basement is damp on the uphill wall. What does that mean?
On sloping ground it usually means water is arriving laterally rather than rising from below. Water moves down through the soil along the slope and meets your foundation on its way past, which is why the damp concentrates on the wall facing uphill. A sump pump removes water that has already got in, but it does not stop water pushing against a wall. The fix is outside: ground graded to fall away from the building, downpipes discharging well clear, and where necessary a drainage system outside the foundation to intercept water before it arrives.
Why do my outside taps split every few winters?
Almost always a hose left connected. A frost-proof outside tap works by closing off inside the heated wall, so the exposed barrel drains itself empty after each use. Leave a hose attached and that barrel cannot drain: it stays full, the water in it freezes, and it splits the tap or the pipe behind it. The damage is inside the wall, so nobody sees it until spring when the tap is used and water appears in the basement. Disconnecting hoses in autumn is a five-minute job that prevents almost all of it.
Should I have the sewer inspected before buying here?
Yes. A standard home inspection does not include the lateral, and in a city with housing this old the line is likely to be clay or cast iron that has been in the ground for a century, under mature trees, on ground that freezes and thaws every year. A camera survey shows the material, the condition, whether roots have found the joints, and while they are down there it is worth asking whether the downspouts are connected into it.
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