Why Your Austell Water Bill Doubled With No Visible Leak
Start at the meter, not with a plumber. The order you check things in decides whether this costs nothing or hundreds.
Read this onePlumbing advice
Plumbing Advice for Austell, GA Homeowners
Written for the housing, the ground and the utilities that actually exist in south Cobb County, rather than for a national average.
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Reading can wait. If water is arriving where it should not be, call first and read afterwards.
- POSTS
- 19 and growing.
- WRITTEN BY
- The Austell GA Plumbing Co team.
- COVERING
- Austell and south Cobb.
The archive
Guides written for this town, not for a template
Every post here starts from something specific to this area. The surface water supply from Allatoona Lake and the Chattahoochee, the polybutylene plumbed into houses built between 1978 and 1995, the clay laterals under mature oaks, or the freeze that emptied crawlspaces across the county in December 2022.
They are also written against the same rulebook every plumber here works to. Georgia adopts the International Plumbing Code (IPC), 2018 edition, with state amendments as the Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code, and that is what decides which materials, joints and cleanouts are acceptable on any repair described in these posts.
None of them are a substitute for having somebody look at your particular house. They exist so that when you do call a plumber, you already know which questions are worth asking and which answers should make you pause.
Slab Leak: Repair Through the Floor or Reroute Overhead?
Two legitimate answers with very different price tags. The age of the house decides which one is actually cheaper.
Read this oneWhy Your Kitchen Drain Blocks Every Winter in Georgia
It is not a coincidence and it is not bad luck. Cold pipe, cast iron and cabling combine into a predictable January call.
Read this oneDoes Home Insurance Cover Sewer Line Repair in Georgia?
The pipe and the damage it causes are usually treated as two different things, and only one of them is commonly covered.
Read this oneShould You Get a Sewer Scope Before Buying in Cobb County?
The most expensive single pipe on the property is the one nobody looks at during due diligence.
Read this oneHow Long Should a Water Heater Last on Austell Water?
The national scale argument does not apply to this supply. What ends tanks here runs on a more predictable clock.
Read this oneNo Hot Water? Three Checks Before You Call a Plumber
One of these is a button you press yourself. It fixes more calls than people expect.
Read this oneWhy New Faucets Feel Weaker Than the One You Replaced
Some of the drop is designed in. The rest is usually an aerator or a valve, and both are free to check.
Read this oneWill a Low Flow Toilet Block My Old Georgia Drain Line?
The honest answer is that the new pan usually reveals a line problem rather than creating one.
Read this oneDo You Need a Water Filter on Austell's Tap Water?
Most households here need far less equipment than the sales visit suggests. Here is how to tell which category you are in.
Read this oneCan Your Gas Line Handle a Tankless Water Heater?
Two quotes for the same unit can differ enormously. Almost all of that gap is gas piping and venting.
Read this oneCity Water or a Well? What Changes for Your Plumbing
Most plumbing advice online assumes one or the other and never says which. Here is where the two genuinely diverge.
Read this oneHow to Get a Georgia House Ready for a Hard Freeze
Shallow frost depth means the failures here are above ground, not buried. That changes what is worth doing.
Read this oneHow to Tell If Your House Still Has Polybutylene Pipe
Ten minutes with a torch answers this. Finding it is a planning matter, not an emergency.
Read this oneRoot Intrusion: Why Cutting Roots Every Year Never Ends
The roots are a symptom. Cutting them treats the symptom on a schedule you pay for annually.
Read this oneWhat a Garbage Disposal Cannot Do for Your Drain Line
Grinding and transporting are two different jobs. Only one of them happens under your sink.
Read this oneDoes Your Austell Crawlspace Actually Need a Sump Pump?
The honest test is what your own crawlspace has done over several wet seasons, not what is typical for the town.
Read this oneWhich Georgia Plumbing Licence Does Your Building Need?
Ten thousand square feet is the line. Hiring across it is a problem that surfaces at inspection, not at quotation.
Read this oneAdding a Generator or Grill? Start With the Gas Sizing
An appliance that underperforms is often a supply problem wearing an appliance costume.
Read this oneRead enough and still stuck?
Call and describe what the plumbing is doing. A two minute conversation beats another hour of searching.