Main water line replacement in Los Angeles, from the meter to the house

In the City of Los Angeles, LADWP supplies water and generally owns the meter and the pipe on the street side of it. The service line from the meter to your house is usually the homeowner's responsibility. Other cities such as Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach run their own water departments with similar splits, though details vary.

If the leak is on the utility side, the water department handles it. If it is on your side, the repair or replacement falls to you. We locate the leak first, using acoustic and pressure testing, so you know which side it is on before anyone digs.

When we need the water off at the meter, we coordinate with the utility where that is required. In many homes the meter valve is stiff or seized, so the house shutoff we install becomes your new first line of control.

The traditional method digs a trench from meter to house, removes the old pipe, lays new copper or approved plastic pipe on sand bedding, and backfills. It is simple and lets us see the whole run, but it disturbs whatever sits above, whether that is lawn, a planter, a walkway or part of a driveway.

Trenchless replacement pulls new pipe through the ground from one small pit to another, often splitting or displacing the old pipe as it goes. It works well when the line runs under concrete, mature landscaping or hardscape you want to keep. Not every soil or route suits it, so we tell you plainly which method fits.

In both cases we bring the new line up to a new main shutoff at the house and a pressure regulator where pressure from the street runs high.

• Type K or Type L copper for long life
• Approved plastic pipe such as PE or PEX in suitable soils
• Sand bedding and tracer wire for future locating
• New full-port ball valve as the house main shutoff

Many pre-1960s homes still have galvanized steel service lines. Over decades they rust from the inside, narrowing until pressure drops, and eventually rust through. Older copper lines can thin in aggressive soils or at points where they contact other metals. Some mid-century homes also have early plastic lines that crack with age.

Tree roots and soil movement add stress. Expansive clay soils in parts of the Valley swell and shrink with the seasons and can pull fittings apart. Ficus and other street trees push their roots against shallow lines near the sidewalk, and a line running under a driveway takes vibration from every car.

If your house is still on galvanized supply pipe inside too, the main and the house lines often fail on similar timelines. A combined project with our whole-house repiping service keeps the whole system on one material.

Before we dig, we call for underground utility markings so gas, electric and communication lines are flagged. On older lots, sprinkler lines and old drainage pipe also tend to run across the path of the water main, so we hand-dig near those.

Most replacements are done in a single day, with water off for a few hours while we tie in. We backfill and compact the trench and leave the surface level. Concrete cuts get patched, and lawn areas are returned as close to original as the soil allows, though sod or planting replacement is usually separate.

If the old line ran beside the sewer lateral, we take the chance to look at that too. A sewer camera check while the yard is already open costs little and can catch a clay pipe problem early.