Main Water Line Repair in Shoreline, WA: Replacing Worn-Out Galvanized and Black Poly Lines
Done Right Plumbing repairs and replaces main water lines across Shoreline, from Richmond Beach to North City. Much of the city was built after the Second World War, and the galvanized and black poly services that went in with those houses are reaching the end of their lives. We replace them with continuous PEX A, bored under the yard.
Real Work in Shoreline
At the end of August, Ashton and Joshua replaced the water service at a house in Parkwood, in the blocks between Aurora Avenue and I-5. The old line was about fifty feet of three-quarter-inch galvanized steel running from the meter to the basement. Rather than trench across the yard, the crew opened one small pit at the meter and another where the line comes through the basement wall, then bored between them and pulled through a new one-inch PEX A line inside a protective HDPE conduit, with a blue tracer wire alongside so the plastic pipe can be found later. At the meter, the new line starts with a short copper tail and a brass transition into the PEX. Inside, it comes up through the foundation to a new whole-home ball valve and a pressure regulator, then a tee with a hose bib, before it feeds the house plumbing. The crew finished in a single day, and the new service carries our two-year warranty on parts and labor and a fifteen-year warranty on the pipe itself. A week later, Jeremy, Ashton, Joseph P. and Theoren bored a forty-foot replacement in Hillwood, on the west side of Aurora toward Richmond Beach, and set a new quarter-turn shutoff in a box outside the house.
What We Do on a Shoreline Water Line
Replace a galvanized or black poly service, meter to house
Galvanized steel was the standard water service when most of Shoreline's houses went up, and it fails from the inside: the zinc wears through, the steel rusts, the bore narrows until the pressure fades, and then the pinhole leaks begin. Houses built from the 1960s through the 1990s often have black poly pipe instead, a product known for failing at around 30 to 40 years old. Once a poly line starts leaking it has reached the end of its life, so we strongly recommend replacing it rather than chasing the next leak. Either way the replacement is one continuous run of PEX A from the meter to the house, with new connections at both ends and a tracer wire alongside.
Spot repair when the line still has life in it
A spot repair makes sense when the pipe itself is sound and the failure is local, such as a fitting that let go or damage from someone else's digging. We expose that section, rebuild it and leave the rest of the run alone. On a leaking black poly line our advice is always to replace it, and if you still want the repair priced, we price it next to the replacement.
Trenchless under yards, driveways and street trees
Most Shoreline lots have had sixty or seventy years to grow in. We bore beneath all of it and pull the new line between two small pits, opening the ground only at the meter, at the house and wherever another buried utility crosses the path. The method has its own page: trenchless water line replacement.
The valves at the house end
Where the street pressure runs high, a pressure regulator belongs beside the new shutoff, as it does on the Parkwood job above. Our water pressure page explains how we test for it and set it.
What Makes a Shoreline Water Line Job Different
Two water utilities, split at the freeway
Shoreline gets its water from two public utilities. Seattle Public Utilities serves most of the city west of I-5 directly, about 58 percent of residents, and North City Water District serves most of the east side, buying its water wholesale from Seattle. In both territories the line from the meter to your house is yours to repair. Parkwood and Hillwood both sit west of I-5, on the Seattle Public Utilities side.
Houses from the postwar decades
Most of Shoreline's neighborhoods filled in after the Second World War, from Richmond Beach and Innis Arden above the Sound to Parkwood, Ridgecrest and North City inland. Whole streets were plumbed within a few years of each other, so when a neighbor's line goes, it is worth watching your own meter.
Planting strips and the right-of-way
On many Shoreline streets the meter sits at the edge of the property or out in the planting strip, so the first few feet of a replacement happen in the City's right-of-way. Work there is done carefully, by hand where a street tree's roots are close, and we check the City's right-of-way permit rules before anyone digs.
Permits from the City of Shoreline
The City of Shoreline issues its own plumbing permits, and contractors apply and book inspections online through the City's eTRAKiT system. A replacement water service is permitted and inspected like any other plumbing work, and the permit goes in our quote.
Our Process
1. Prove the leak is on the service line
With every fixture off, we read the meter. If it keeps moving, the water is leaving between the meter and the house, and we confirm where before we quote.
2. Identify the pipe and the utility
We look at the line where it enters the house to see what it is made of, and we confirm whether the house is on Seattle Public Utilities or North City water.
3. Locate everything buried
Every utility on the property is marked before the bore is planned, and the pits go where they disturb the least.
4. Bore, pull and connect
The drill runs a guided path between the pits, the new PEX A goes through it in one piece with the tracer wire, and both ends get new fittings and a new shutoff at the house.
5. Restore and walk you through it
The pits are backfilled, the turf and any cut surface put back, and we show you where the new line runs.
FAQs About Water Line Repair in Shoreline
Is my Shoreline water line on Seattle Public Utilities or North City Water District?
It depends on which side of I-5 you live on. Seattle Public Utilities serves most of Shoreline west of the freeway, and North City Water District serves most of the east side, buying its water wholesale from Seattle. Either way, the utility owns the meter and the main, and the line from the meter to your house is yours.
Your water bill names the utility, and on the Seattle Public Utilities side it decides which leak adjustment program can credit the water a leak wasted, which our leak responsibility guide explains.
What does it cost to replace a water line in Shoreline?
A full replacement from the meter to the house runs $6,000 to $16,000 in our area, and where a Shoreline job lands depends on three things: how far the house sits back from the meter, whether the path crosses a driveway or big roots, and how much digging falls in the street right-of-way. A spot repair runs $2,000 to $6,000.
How can I tell whether my water line is galvanized or black poly?
Look where the line comes through your basement or crawlspace wall, near the main shutoff. Galvanized is gray steel with threaded fittings, and a magnet will stick to it. Black poly is black plastic joined with barbed fittings and hose clamps. Copper is brown or green with soldered joints. If you are unsure, we check on the first visit.
An original galvanized line is now well past its expected life, and a black poly line that has started leaking is done; copper can still have years left in it.
Do I need a permit to replace my water line in Shoreline?
Yes. The City of Shoreline issues its own plumbing permits, applied for online through its eTRAKiT system, and replacing a water service is plumbing work that gets permitted and inspected. If the pit at the meter lands in the planting strip or the sidewalk, we also check the City's right-of-way permit requirements before digging there.
Will you replace my main shutoff valve along with the water line?
Usually, yes. The old gate valve where the line enters the house is often as old as the pipe and may not close when you need it, so a new quarter-turn ball valve is part of most of our replacements. In Parkwood it went in beside a new pressure regulator; in Hillwood it sits in a box outside the house.
Serving Shoreline From Lynnwood
Our shop is on 204th Street SW in Lynnwood, a few miles north of the county line, so Shoreline is a short run down Aurora or I-5, usually ten to fifteen minutes outside rush hour. We work the whole city, from Richmond Beach and Innis Arden across Hillwood, Echo Lake and Parkwood to Ridgecrest, Briarcrest and North City.
Why Shoreline Homeowners Choose Done Right
We find the failure before we quote, we tell you what your line is made of and what that means for its future, and when a galvanized or black poly line is past saving, we say so plainly instead of selling a patch. We own our boring equipment, every line we bore gets a tracer wire, and our replacements carry a two-year warranty on parts and labor.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
WA Contractor License #DONERRP852N5
Done Right Plumbing is licensed, bonded and insured in Washington State, family-owned since 2011, with twelve technicians and our own boring, jetting and camera equipment.
Call for a Shoreline Water Line Estimate
A meter that keeps moving with the taps off, a soft spot in the lawn, pressure that has faded over the years, or an original galvanized line 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.