…in Broad Ripple, Meridian Kessler, SoBro, and downtown Indianapolis.

  1. The drain lines leaving most of the older homes in Indianapolis are made of clay pipe that is approximately 6″ in diameter.
  2. Some water lines that go into people’s homes are made of lead pipe.
  3. There are many different thicknesses of the lead pipe that Indianapolis plumbers used when installing water lines in the 1920s and 1930s.
  4. Water lines originally installed inside your home are composed of galvanized steel.
  5. Because Indianapolis has a combination stormwater/sewer drainage system, severe downpours often cause water to back up in the basement of your home.
  6. When downtown Indianapolis smells like rotten eggs, pressure and temperature have drawn warm sewer gas out of the downtown Indianapolis sewer lines.
  7. Water pressure in Indianapolis varies depending on where you are in the city.
  8. Water pressure is adjusted each year to accommodate sprinkler systems.
  9. As temperatures change with season, metal, along with everything else, contracts and expand often causing harm to plumbing systems.
  10. Older Indianapolis homes were often built with copper gutters and downspouts. (If you still have them, you are very lucky!)
  11. If you do not have a plumbing license, accepting money for performing plumbing services in the state of Indiana is against the law.
  12. It requires (4) years of schooling, (8,000) hours of apprenticeship, and passing an exam required by the state of Indiana to become a licensed plumber.
  13. Most of the drain piping originally installed inside older Indianapolis homes is composed of cast iron.
  14. Sewer lines coming out of your home are anywhere between 2′ and 15′ deep, but most are 8′ to 12′ deep.
  15. If your home was built before the 1950s the trenches for your water and drain lines were likely dug by hand. (Backhoes were not common before the 1960s)
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