Once a year for most homes, and more often if your home was built before 1980, has galvanized supply pipe, or has a history of leaks. The annual check should include measuring water pressure — the item most likely to be causing damage without anyone knowing.
What Annual Inspection Covers
- Water pressure measurement. The highest-value item. Excess pressure stresses every joint, fixture seal, and appliance hose in the house continuously, and it is the hidden cause behind repeat leaks. Most homeowners have never measured it.
- Visible supply pipe condition — corrosion, mineral buildup, and failing joints — plus identifying pipe material.
- Shutoff valves. Main and fixture stops, confirmed to actually turn. A seized main is a problem you discover at the worst moment.
- Hidden leak check via the water meter.
- Fixture supply lines, which are wear items and a common flood source.
- Pressure reducing valve function, if one is installed.
Inspect More Often If
Your home predates 1980, since galvanized supply pipe is likely and it corrodes from the inside out. You have had leaks before — the cause is usually still there. Your water heater is past eight years. You have a rental or vacation property where a leak could run unnoticed for months. Or you have noticed pressure changes, discoloration, or unexplained bill increases.
Always Inspect Before Buying
Standard home inspections are visual overviews. They rarely identify galvanized supply pipe as the near-term expense it is, and they do not measure pressure. On an Albuquerque home built before 1980, a plumbing inspection is among the highest-value money spent in a transaction — a house needing a repipe is a five-figure item the buyer otherwise inherits.
The Local Factors It Catches
Hard water scale narrowing lines and shortening water heater life, missing or failed pressure reducing valves, and freeze-vulnerable pipe runs in unconditioned space.
Care Club members get scheduled inspections. Contact B. Carlson.
