Best Plumbing Blog

In Portland, there’s a predictable shift that happens every year between mid-March and late April. The phone starts ringing more. Emergency calls increase. Scheduling windows tighten. What felt like a manageable plumbing issue in early March suddenly becomes harder — and more expensive — to fix by late April. If …

In East County — from Gresham’s Centennial neighborhood to older homes near Rockwood and parts of unincorporated Clackamas County — water damage insurance claims don’t always go the way homeowners expect. Many people assume that if water leaks, insurance automatically covers the damage. But in homes built on clay-heavy soil, …

Sandy isn’t Gresham. It isn’t Portland. And it definitely isn’t Happy Valley. With higher elevation, heavier rainfall exposure, rural pockets, and a mix of well systems and municipal supply, Sandy homes experience plumbing stress differently — especially in late winter and early spring. If you live near Bluff Road, up …

Drive through Scouters Mountain, Pleasant Valley, or the newer developments off 172nd and Sunnyside, and you’ll see the difference immediately. Larger footprints. Modern plumbing. Pressure-balanced systems. Clean mechanical rooms. Happy Valley’s newer builds are very different from Portland’s century homes — and that changes the bidet installation conversation entirely. In …

Bidets are becoming increasingly popular across Portland — especially in neighborhoods like Sellwood, Lents, and parts of Montavilla where homeowners are upgrading older bathrooms instead of doing full remodels. But here’s what many homeowners don’t realize: Installing a bidet in a 1920s Sellwood bungalow is not the same as installing …

  In neighborhoods like Sellwood, Lents, Montavilla, and parts of Laurelhurst, we hear the same sentence every spring: “I thought the city handled that.” When it comes to sewer lines in Portland, that assumption can get expensive. Many homeowners don’t realize that while the City of Portland maintains the public …

If you live in Hollybrook, parts of Centennial, or one of Gresham’s late-80s and early-90s subdivisions off Division or Kane Road, your slow drain might not be what you think it is. Most homeowners assume drain problems are caused by hair, soap, or grease. And sometimes that’s true. But in …

If you live near the Sandy River, Columbia River Gorge corridor, or in neighborhoods west of downtown Troutdale closer to the historic district, your plumbing system faces a different set of pressures than homes farther inland. In early spring, groundwater levels rise. The Sandy River swells. The water table beneath …

Every March, families in Clackamas pack up for spring break trips — the coast, Central Oregon, maybe a flight out of PDX. The house gets cleaned, trash goes out, lights are put on timers. But in neighborhoods near Mount Scott Creek and along the wetter corridors east of 82nd, one …