Main Water Line Repair in Kenmore, WA: Repair a Sound Line, Replace a Black Poly One
Done Right Plumbing repairs and replaces main water lines across Kenmore. Many homes here from the 1960s through the 1990s run on black poly pipe, which fails at around 30 to 40 years old. Once it leaks, it has reached the end of its life, and we strongly urge replacing it with new PEX A bored under the yard.
Real Work in Kenmore
In May, Malikai and Joshua replaced the whole water service at a Moorlands home on the hill above Bothell Way. The old line from the meter to the house was done, so rather than chase it with a trench across the lawn, the crew bored a new path and pulled a one-inch PEX A line through it with a tracer wire alongside, so the plastic pipe can be located from the surface for the rest of its life. The ground was opened only in front of the meter, where the new line stubs into the crawlspace, and wherever another buried utility crossed the drill's path. Inside, the new line was sleeved in foam insulation, hung from the joists and tied into the house's copper, and the old service was capped where it came through the foundation. The job ran from a Monday to a Thursday, with the pits backfilled and the surfaces put back before the crew called it done. Earlier in the year, Steven and Ben replaced another Moorlands service in a single day, which you can see on our Kenmore plumbing page. Water lines and side sewers in this city are aging on the same schedule.
What We Do on a Kenmore Water Line
Replace a leaking black poly line, meter to house
If your house went up between the 1960s and the 1990s, there is a good chance its water service is black poly pipe, a product notorious for failing at around 30 to 40 years old. A line from the 1960s or 70s is well past that point, and even a 1990s line is coming up on it. Once the pipe shows signs of leaking it has reached the end of its life, and patching one spot only moves the next leak a few feet along the run. For that reason we strongly urge replacing the line before it becomes a financial disaster: new PEX A from the meter to the house in one continuous piece, new connections at both ends and a tracer wire alongside so the line can be found later. The old line stays in the ground, disconnected.
Spot repair when the line itself is still sound
A spot repair still has its place. When a line with life left in it fails in one spot, a split at a rock, a bad fitting or an old clamped splice letting go, we expose that section, rebuild it and leave the rest of the run alone. On a black poly line, though, our advice will be the same every time: replace it. If you still want the repair priced, we price it next to the replacement so you decide with the facts in front of you.
Trenchless where the yard is worth keeping
On most Kenmore lots the run crosses a lawn, a driveway and beds that have had fifty years to establish. We bore beneath all of it and pull the new line between two small pits. The method has its own page: trenchless water line replacement.
The pressurized side only
This page covers the line that brings water to the house. The pipe that carries it away, the side sewer, fails differently and is priced differently: sewer line repair.
What Makes a Kenmore Water Line Job Different
The district draws the line at the meter
Water and sewer in Kenmore come from the Northshore Utility District, headquartered in the city on NE 185th Street and serving more than 74,000 people across Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and parts of Bothell, Kirkland and Woodinville. The district owns the mains and the meter. The line from the meter to your house is yours to repair, and a leak on it shows up on your bill before it shows up in the yard. The district does offer a leak adjustment credit once the repair is done, and our invoice is the proof it asks for.
Soft Tolt River water, and a lot of black poly in the ground
The district's water is Seattle's, drawn mainly from the Tolt River watershed in the Cascade foothills, and it is very soft, so Kenmore service lines do not fail from scale. They fail from age and from what they are made of. The thin-wall galvanized steel of the 1950s and early 60s rusts from the inside until a joint lets go, and the black poly that went in from the 1960s through the 1990s turns brittle with age and starts leaking, at its fittings and along its length, at around 30 to 40 years old. Whole streets in Moorlands, Uplake and Arrowhead were plumbed within a few years of each other, so when a neighbor's line goes, watch your own meter. You can usually tell which pipe you have where the service comes through the crawlspace wall: black plastic joined with barbed fittings and hose clamps is poly.
Houses on a hill
Kenmore steps downhill from the plateau to Lake Washington, the Sammamish River and Log Boom Park, so a service line here often runs with real fall across the lot and crosses a sloped driveway on the way. That is bad for guessing, which is why we locate the line and test at the meter before anyone digs. The lakeshore cottages below Bothell Way are older still, with shorter runs and tighter access.
Permits inside the city
Kenmore issues its own plumbing permits, online through the MyBuildingPermit portal, rather than routing them through King County. If the pit at the meter lands in the planting strip, that is city right-of-way, and we check with the City about a right-of-way permit before we dig there. Either way the permit is our job, and the fee goes in the quote.
Our Process
1. Prove it is the service line
With every fixture in the house shut off, we read the meter. If it keeps turning, the leak is between the meter and the house, and we confirm which side of the foundation it is on before quoting. We also look at the pipe where it comes through the wall, because what it is made of decides whether a repair makes any sense.
2. Locate and plan the bore
Every buried utility on the property gets located and marked, then we mark the meter pit, the entry pit at the house and any crossing that has to be opened by hand.
3. Pull the new line
The directional drill runs a guided path between the pits, and the new PEX A goes back through it in one piece with the tracer wire alongside.
4. Tie in both ends
Brass at the meter, an insulated run and a clean tie-in to the house plumbing inside, the old line capped and the water back on, usually the same day.
5. Put the yard back
Pits backfilled, turf laid back, any cut surface patched, and a walk-through so you know where the new line runs.
FAQs About Water Line Repair in Kenmore
My Kenmore house has black plastic water pipe. Can you just repair the leak?
We can, but we will advise against it. Black poly pipe went into Kenmore houses from the 1960s through the 1990s and is notorious for failing at around 30 to 40 years old. Once it shows signs of leaking it has reached the end of its life, so we strongly urge replacing the run before it becomes a financial disaster.
What does a water line replacement cost in Kenmore?
Full meter-to-house replacements around the Seattle area run $6,000 to $16,000, and a spot repair on an otherwise sound line usually runs $2,000 to $6,000. In Kenmore the run length, a sloped driveway in the path and how many utilities the bore has to cross are what move the number. We quote after locating the failure, never before.
Do I need a permit to replace a water line in Kenmore?
Yes. The City of Kenmore issues plumbing permits itself, online through MyBuildingPermit, and a replacement water service needs one. If the work at the meter reaches into the planting strip, the City's right-of-way rules apply too. We pull the permit, include the fee in the quote and schedule the inspection, so none of it lands on you.
How long does a Kenmore water line replacement take?
Most meter-to-house replacements are a one-day job, with the water off for a few hours and back on the same afternoon. A longer run, a crossing that has to be hand-dug or a combined job stretches it: the May job in Moorlands, which also included a water heater change-out, ran from a Monday to a Thursday including restoration.
Will Northshore Utility District give me a credit for the water a leak wasted?
Often, yes. The district runs a leak adjustment program for customers who qualify: the leak has to be repaired within six months of the district notifying you, the credit can cover up to four months of billing, and you can receive one adjustment every 24 months. The district wants proof of the repair, and our invoice provides it.
How will anyone find a plastic water line later?
With the tracer wire. A PEX A line is invisible to a locator on its own, so we run a tracer wire along the length of the new line, from the meter to the house, and leave it accessible at both ends. Any locating crew can then trace the path from the surface before the next excavation on the lot.
Serving Kenmore From Lynnwood
Our shop is on 204th Street SW in Lynnwood, and Kenmore is a direct run down I-405 to SR 522 or straight down Bothell Way, usually about twenty minutes outside rush hour. We work the whole city, from Lakepointe and the lakeshore blocks up through Moorlands, Inglewood and Arrowhead to the Bothell line, with the rig, the camera and the common fittings on the truck.
Why Kenmore Homeowners Choose Done Right
We prove the failure before we quote it, we tell you what your line is made of and how many years that gives it, and when the honest answer is to replace a black poly line rather than patch it, we say so plainly. The technician who gives you the number is on the crew that does the work. We own the boring rig, the tracer wire comes standard, and every water line we replace carries our two-year warranty on parts and labor.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
WA Contractor License #DONERRP852N5
Done Right Plumbing is fully licensed, bonded and insured in Washington State, family-owned since 2011, with twelve technicians and our own boring, jetting and camera equipment. Your Kenmore water line job runs with a Done Right crew from the quote through the last shovel of backfill.
Call for a Kenmore Water Line Estimate
A meter that will not stop, a wet patch in the lawn, pressure that faded everywhere at once, or black poly pipe you have been meaning to deal with? Call for a free estimate, or request a callback and we will reach you at a time that works.