Commercial Plumbing in Takoma Park, MD

How old is the plumbing in a typical Takoma Park building?

Often older than the owner expects. Takoma Park was laid out in 1883 as a Victorian commuter suburb on the District line, and much of its old town is a National Register historic district. The city's median home was built in 1954. Small commercial buildings around Takoma Junction and along Carroll Avenue, plus churches and older apartment houses, may still have cast iron drains, galvanized supply branches and fixtures added over several eras. Heavy tree canopy, a point of local pride, also means roots finding their way into older clay or cast iron laterals.

Could the service line be lead or galvanized?

It is worth checking. WSSC Water's What's Your Pipe Type? program inventories both the utility-owned and the customer-owned parts of service lines, follows up on lines listed as lead, unknown or galvanized, and helps customers replace lead lines on either portion. WSSC says part of each service line is the utility's and part is the customer's, and owners planning to replace their side should notify WSSC first. A plumber can also look at the pipe where it comes through the foundation and confirm what is there.

What should a restaurant or cafe know about the water?

WSSC water is disinfected with chlorine rather than chloramine. Its tap analysis lists average hardness around 140 mg/L for water from the Potomac plant and around 64 mg/L for Patuxent plant water, and which plant feeds a building varies. Coffee and espresso equipment, ice machines and dish machines are the first to show scale, so filtration or descaling belongs on the maintenance plan. Any testable backflow assembly on that equipment, a fire line or irrigation must be tested every year by a WSSC-certified cross-connection technician.

Local note

Plumbing and gasfitting permits come from WSSC Water Permit Services (301-206-4003); most plumbing and all gas work in WSSC territory must be done by a plumber or gasfitter registered with WSSC. Main breaks and sewer overflows go to WSSC's emergency service center at 301-206-4002. If staff smell gas, everyone leaves first, then someone calls 911 and Washington Gas at 844-WASHGAS (844-927-4427), option 1, from outside.