San Rafael Plumbers Who Eat Plumbing Problems for Breakfast (not literally, gross)
If it’s happening in your house, it’s happening on our watch.
You’ve got a plumbing problem in your San Rafael home, and it’s exhausting. Even when it’s “small,” it steals your time, your attention, and your peace of mind.
We’re plumbers who genuinely want to fix it for you. Call us, tell us what’s happening, and let us make your plumbing problem ours. We show up when we say we will, protect your space, communicate clearly, and leave you with quality service and a fix you feel confident about.
Let us make your plumbing problem ours.
Drains — Kitchen clogs, shower drains, main line backups. In Terra Linda, we’re often dealing with aging cast iron; in older neighborhoods, it’s clay and galvanized.
Water heaters — Tank or tankless, repair or replacement. San Rafael’s mid-century homes are on their third or fourth water heater generation.
Emergencies — Active leaks, sewer backups, no water. We’re in Marin County, not fighting traffic from the city. When it’s urgent, we move.
Sewer laterals — Camera inspections, root clearing, repairs, replacements. Marin County requires lateral inspections for most home sales; we do those regularly.
PRV replacement — Especially important in San Rafael’s hillside neighborhoods and Terra Linda. If your PRV is original to the home, it’s overdue.
Repiping — When galvanized pipes have corroded past plumbing repair, we can repipe with modern materials.
We’re a full service plumbing company—if it involves pipes and water, we handle it.
3rd Generation Plumbers in Marin County
We’re a family plumbing company—three generations now. San Rafael is central to our Marin coverage, and we understand what makes plumbing here different.
Terra Linda’s uniformity means we can often diagnose problems before we arrive—we know what materials were used, what’s likely to fail, and what the solutions look like. Older neighborhoods like Gerstle Park require more investigation, but we’ve worked in enough of these homes to know what to expect.
When you call, you get plumbers who know San Rafael’s neighborhoods, housing eras, and common problems. We show up when we say we will, explain what we’re doing, and clean up after ourselves. That’s the kind of customer service that keeps San Rafael homeowners coming back.
San Rafael Plumbing Questions
Do you provide emergency plumbing in San Rafael?
Can you help with recurring clogs in San Rafael homes?
Do you work on water heaters in San Rafael?
What are red flags when hiring a plumber?
A Plumbing Cornucopia
San Rafael is the county seat of Marin—the biggest city in the county and the commercial center. It’s also where mid-century California planning happened at scale: Terra Linda was one of the first master-planned communities in the state, and that 1950s-60s housing stock now defines much of San Rafael’s plumbing landscape. Most San Rafael calls are 20-30 minutes from our team.
Terra Linda: Mid-Century Plumbing at Scale
Terra Linda was developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a planned community—one of California’s early experiments in suburban master planning. Thousands of homes built in a relatively short period, with similar materials and similar construction methods.
That uniformity means we know exactly what to expect:
Copper supply lines: The good news. Terra Linda homes were built with copper, which has held up well. Most supply lines are still functional, though we see pinhole leaks in some homes where water chemistry or soil conditions have been unkind.
Cast iron drains: The challenge. Terra Linda’s cast iron drain systems are now 60-70 years old. Cast iron can last 75-100 years under ideal conditions, but we’re seeing many Terra Linda systems reach end-of-life— rusting through, cracking at joints, developing bellies where the pipe has sagged.
Original PRVs: Terra Linda has municipal water pressure that requires pressure reducing valves in most homes. Many homes still have original PRVs from the 1950s-60s. These should have been replaced decades ago. A failing PRV can cause pressure spikes that stress every fixture and connection in your home.
Water heaters on their third or fourth generation: The original water heaters are long gone, but many Terra Linda homes have units that are 15-20 years old and due for replacement.
If you’re in Terra Linda and dealing with drain issues, low pressure, or an aging water heater, you’re not alone—these are the most common calls we get from this neighborhood.
MMWD: California’s Oldest Water District
San Rafael’s water comes from the Marin Municipal Water District— established in 1912, making it the oldest municipal water district in California.
The blend: About 75% of your water comes from local reservoirs on Mt. Tamalpais and the surrounding watershed. The other 25% comes from the Russian River via Sonoma County Water Agency. The mix varies by season and rainfall.
What that means for your plumbing: MMWD water is high quality—consistently meets or exceeds safety standards. But the mineral content is enough to cause scale buildup over time, especially in water heaters. If you have a tankless unit, annual flushing is essential to keep it running efficiently.
MMWD also offers rebates for water-saving upgrades— efficient toilets, showerheads, and sometimes water heaters. We highly recommend checking before you replace anything.
Gerstle Park and Downtown: The Oldest Pipes in Marin
While Terra Linda represents mid-century Marin, Gerstle Park and Downtown San Rafael represent something older— Victorian-era homes and early 1900s construction with plumbing to match.
In these neighborhoods, we find:
- Galvanized supply lines that have been corroding for 80-100+ years
- Original cast iron drain stacks that predate modern plumbing codes
- Clay sewer laterals with root intrusion from trees planted when the homes were new
- Drain configurations that made sense in 1910 but cause problems today
Working in these older San Rafael homes requires a different approach than Terra Linda. The materials are older, the configurations are less standardized, and the solutions often need to be more creative.
The Waterfront: Peacock Gap, Santa Venetia, Marin Lagoon
San Rafael has significant waterfront development along the bay and the lagoons. Peacock Gap, Santa Venetia, and Marin Lagoon are all built on or near the water, and that creates plumbing considerations you don’t see in hillside neighborhoods.
High water tables: Sewer laterals sit in saturated soil, which accelerates corrosion and creates conditions where groundwater can infiltrate through any crack or joint separation.
Moisture and corrosion: Water heaters in garages, outdoor hose bibs, and any exposed plumbing corrodes faster in the salt air and moisture near the bay.
Drainage challenges: Flat terrain and high water tables mean gravity doesn’t always do the work. Some homes have pump systems; others rely on grading that can shift over time.
The Hills: Sun Valley, Dominican, Lucas Valley
San Rafael’s hillside neighborhoods have the opposite challenge from the waterfront—elevation and pressure.
Pressure variations: Homes at higher elevations often have lower water pressure; homes at the bottom of hills can have pressure that’s dangerously high. PRVs are essential in these areas, and they need replacement every 10-15 years.
Soil movement: Hillside soil shifts with the seasons—expanding when wet, contracting when dry. Over time, this can stress underground pipes, creating bellies in sewer lines and joint separations.
Access considerations: Hillside homes can be harder to access for plumbing work. Steep driveways, limited parking, and challenging terrain all factor into how we plan the job.
Permits: City vs. County
San Rafael has its own Building Division for permits. Water heater replacements, repiping, and sewer work require permits. We pull them when needed.
Unincorporated areas: Parts of Lucas Valley, Santa Venetia, and other areas near San Rafael are actually unincorporated Marin County. Permits there go through the County, not the City. We handle both.
Selling your home? Marin County requires sewer lateral inspections for most sales. In Terra Linda and other mid-century neighborhoods, lateral issues are common. Better to know before you list.
Nearby Areas We Also Serve
San Rafael is central to our Marin coverage:
- Novato (15 minutes north)
- Mill Valley, Sausalito, and southern Marin
- San Anselmo, Fairfax, Larkspur, Corte Madera
If you’re in Marin County, we can get to you.
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