Apartment building plumbing in Los Angeles for owners and property managers

In a multi-story building, each column of bathrooms and kitchens drains into a vertical stack that feeds a horizontal building drain and then the sewer lateral. Grease from kitchens, wipes and hair collect at the base of stacks and in the horizontal run. When that clogs, the lowest units take everyone else's water.

We clear stacks from roof vents or cleanouts and the building drain from its main cleanout. For buildings with repeat backups, we follow up with a camera and often water jetting of the building drain, since cabling alone leaves grease on the walls. Older buildings often have cast iron stacks that crack along the bottom or rot at the joints. We locate weak sections by camera before planning replacement.

Many Los Angeles apartment buildings heat water centrally with a large commercial tank, several residential tanks in a bank, or a boiler with a storage tank. A recirculation pump moves hot water through a loop so far units get it quickly. When the pump or a check valve fails, upper and end units wait for hot water and use more water while they wait.

We service and replace central heaters, rebuild or replace recirculation pumps and set mixing valves so the temperature at the taps stays safe. Banks of tanks need each unit strapped, vented and connected so they share load evenly. Scale from hard water collects in large tanks and boilers, which is why we flush and inspect them on a schedule.

• Commercial tank and boiler replacement
• Recirculation pump, check valve and timer service
• Mixing valves set for safe tap temperature
• Flushing and scale removal on a schedule
• Seismic strapping on every tank in a bank

Good shutoffs save managers a lot of trouble. Buildings with working valves at each riser, each unit and each fixture let us repair one bathroom while the rest of the building keeps water. Older buildings often have gate valves that seize or never existed at the unit level. We add or replace them so the next repair affects one unit instead of twenty.

When water does have to be off, we coordinate notices with you, give a time window and keep the shutdown short. Inside units, we handle the usual calls: running toilets, leaking shower valves, slow tubs and failed angle stops. Unit work is scheduled with your entry notice so tenants know who is coming.

Galvanized supply risers in older buildings rust closed over time. When pressure and flow fall off on upper floors, we look at riser replacement in stages, often one stack at a time, so the building stays occupied. Our repiping page explains materials and staging.

Larger buildings almost always have backflow prevention assemblies on the domestic water service, fire lines or irrigation. LADWP requires these to be tested every year by a certified tester, and other water departments in the county have their own testing requirements. Our backflow testing page covers the process and paperwork.

A simple preventive schedule pays off in multi-unit buildings: jet the building drain before it backs up, flush central water heaters, exercise riser valves so they still turn when needed, and camera the lateral every few years. We can set up a schedule that fits your budget and tenant calendar.