Service
Water Service Line Installation
Installing a new supply line to a property or outbuilding, sized for its demand and set at a depth that keeps it below the frost line.
- Licensed and insured
- Price agreed before work
- A plumber who works your area
Depth is not a detail
The single specification that decides whether a new service line gives trouble is how deep it is buried.
It has to sit below the local frost depth, and that figure varies hugely: a foot or so in mild regions, well over four feet where winters are severe. Your jurisdiction publishes a minimum and it is a requirement rather than advice.
A line buried too shallow freezes. That means no water while it is frozen, and quite possibly a split that only starts leaking once the ice clears, in a pipe that is now under a driveway or a lawn.
It is not a corner worth cutting, and it is invisible once the trench is filled.
Size it once
The other permanent decision is diameter, and undersizing is the common mistake.
A service line sized too small limits everything downstream of it, forever. The symptom is familiar: pressure that collapses whenever two fixtures run at once, a shower that weakens when a toilet refills.
No amount of work inside the building improves it, because the restriction is the pipe in the ground.
Since the cost of this job is almost entirely the excavation rather than the pipe, going a size up where there is any doubt costs very little now. Correcting it afterwards means digging the whole route again.
Does this sound familiar?
Problems this service solves
- A new build or an addition needing its own supply
- Running water to a garage, workshop or outbuilding
- A property with no service line of its own
- An existing line too small for a planned extension
- Bringing an unmetered or shared supply onto its own line
Signs you need water service line installation
If more than one of these is true, the problem is usually past the point a plunger or a store-bought cleaner will fix.
- A new structure needs its own water supply
- An extension will add fixtures the current line cannot serve
- The property shares a supply with another
- There is no existing service to the building
What to expect
How the visit works
Size for the fixtures it will serve
The number of fixtures and how many might run at once decides the diameter, and getting it wrong limits the building permanently.
Plan the route and depth
The line is set below the local frost depth and routed clear of other services, footings and future construction.
Permit and locate
Permits are obtained and utilities located before any excavation, particularly where the run crosses public land.
Install, test and record
The line is laid, pressure tested, inspected where required, and its route recorded so it can be found in future.
What's included
What you get on every job, whoever we send.
- Sized against the fixtures it will actually serve
- Buried below the local frost depth
- Permitting and locating handled as part of the work
- The route recorded, so future work is not exploratory
Questions
Water Service Line Installation questions
How deep does a water line need to be buried?
Below the local frost depth, and that figure varies enormously by region, from a foot or so in mild climates to well over four feet where winters are hard. Your jurisdiction publishes a required minimum and it is not a guideline. A line buried too shallow will freeze, and a frozen service line is both an immediate loss of water and a likely split that only reveals itself during the thaw.
What size line do I need?
It depends on the fixtures it will serve and how many might run at once, not on what happens to be convenient. Undersizing is the common error and it is permanent in effect: every fixture in the building is limited by it, and the symptom is pressure that collapses whenever two things run together. Since the cost of the job is the excavation rather than the pipe, sizing up is inexpensive at installation and expensive later.
Do I need a permit for a new service line?
Almost always, and there is usually an inspection before the trench is backfilled. Connecting to the public supply is regulated, and where the run crosses public land there are further requirements. Whoever installs it should handle the permitting and arrange the inspection. It is also worth having the route recorded, because an unrecorded buried line is a problem for everyone who works on the property afterwards.
Related services
Water Line Replacement
Replacing the buried supply line to a property, including trenchless methods that pull new pipe through without opening the whole route.
See what this coversWater Main Replacement
Replacing the main line from the meter to the property, including permitting, utility locating and reinstatement of whatever the route crosses.
See what this coversOutdoor Faucet Installation
Fitting outside taps, including frost-proof sillcocks and the backflow protection that a hose connection needs by code in most places.
See what this coversWater Heater Repair
Diagnosis and repair of gas, electric and tankless water heaters, including no-hot-water calls, leaks, pilot problems and sediment flushing.
See what this covers
Get it fixed
Water Service Line Installation, handled locally
Call with your ZIP code and what you are seeing. We route you to a licensed plumber in your area who does water service line installation every week.
- Licensed and insured
- Answered 24/7
- Price before work