Repiping in Olney, MD

Olney homes and water service

Olney was mostly farmland until the 1960s, and much of its housing went up in the decades after, centered on the crossroads of Georgia Avenue and MD 108. Core Olney is on WSSC Water. The Patuxent reservoirs that feed part of WSSC's system lie along the community's northern edge. Some outlying properties sit outside the public sewer envelope, and public water was extended to Mt. Zion to relieve well problems, so a few homes on the rural fringe may have different arrangements.

WSSC water can come from either its Potomac or Patuxent plant, and their hardness differs: Potomac plant water averages about 140 mg/L and Patuxent plant water about 64 mg/L. Which plant serves a given address varies. Neither level is extreme, but harder water does leave more scale on valves and fittings over time.

Comparing your options

Warning signs

• A new leak in a different room within a year or two of the last one
• Blue-green stains on copper joints in the basement
• Water meter moving with every fixture off
• Rattling or banging in walls when taps close
• Flow that has dropped across the whole house
• Patches and repair couplings showing up on more than one exposed run

One of these on its own usually calls for a repair. Two or three together, in a house that still has its original lines, is when it makes sense to price a repipe.

Seasonal timing

Cold snaps are when weak pipe usually gives out, especially lines near garage walls, rim joists and outside spigots. If you are already seeing repeat leaks, scheduling a repipe in spring or fall avoids doing the work under pressure after a midwinter failure. The new layout is also a chance to move vulnerable runs inside the heated envelope of the house. If a customer-side service line is replaced as part of the job, WSSC asks to be notified first.