Service area
Plumbers Serving Wauwatosa, WI
Wauwatosa is its own city with its own water utility and its own public works department, so the first plumbing question here is often which office to ask, not which plumber to hire.
The houses
The Village and the streets around Washington Highlands are full of homes from the 1910s to the 1930s: brick Tudors, stucco, and big foursquares with basements that have been finished and refinished over the years. Further west and north the stock is post-war, with ranches and Cape Cods on copper supply and cast iron or clay drains. The plumbing problems split along that line. Older homes bring galvanised supply, original cast iron stacks and long laterals under mature trees. Post-war homes more often bring a tired water heater, a sump pit and a lateral nobody has looked at since it was laid.
Storms and the Menomonee River
The Menomonee runs through the middle of the city, and the low ground along it is where flooding concentrates in the heaviest storms. River flooding is a different problem from sewer backup, but the same storms cause both. If your basement has taken on water through the floor drain in a big rain, a camera inspection of the lateral is the place to start. Ask the city’s public works department whether it is running any private lateral or backup prevention assistance before you pay for the work yourself; programmes like that come and go with funding.
Water lines: ask the Wauwatosa utility, not Milwaukee
Milwaukee Water Works’ lead service line programme and its no-cost terms apply to properties on Milwaukee’s system inside the city. Wauwatosa customers deal with the Wauwatosa Water Utility, which maintains the line from the main to the curb stop and leaves the owner responsible from the curb stop into the house. The city’s public works director has estimated that close to 10,000 of its roughly 15,000 customers are fed by lead, and the city’s guidance is that homes built before 1986 may have lead in the service or the plumbing. If you think your service line might be lead, or a plumber has told you it is, call the Wauwatosa utility to find out what applies to your address before anyone quotes you to replace it. The scratch and magnet check in our guide works the same here.
Permits in Wauwatosa
Plumbing permits in Wauwatosa go through the city, not Milwaukee. The state rules on licensing are the same on both sides of the line: plumbers are licensed by DSPS, and you can check any plumber’s credential on the state lookup. Ask the company who is pulling the permit for your job and confirm with the city if you are not sure one is needed.
In Wauwatosa and wondering where to start? Call with the address and what you are seeing.
ZIP codes covered 53213 · 53222 · 53226
Wauwatosa questions
Does Milwaukee’s free lead line replacement apply in Wauwatosa?
No. That programme covers properties on Milwaukee Water Works’ system within the City of Milwaukee. Wauwatosa customers should ask the Wauwatosa water utility what applies to them.
My basement flooded in a storm. Is that the river or the sewer?
Water through the floor drain is usually the sewer system; water through walls or window wells is groundwater or surface water. They have different fixes, and a plumber can tell you which you are dealing with.
Do you cover all of Wauwatosa?
Yes, from the Village and Washington Highlands to the post-war neighbourhoods north and west. Give the ZIP when you call.
Services here
- Plumber in Milwaukee, WI
- Emergency Plumber in Milwaukee
- Drain Cleaning in Milwaukee
- Water Heater Repair in Milwaukee
- Water Heater Installation in Milwaukee
- Sewer and Basement Backup Help in Milwaukee
Also serving Milwaukee , West Allis, Bay View, Riverwest.
Get a quote in Wauwatosa
Say what is happening and a local plumbing company will get back to you, often the same or next day for repairs. Answered Mon–Sat, 7am–7pm · emergencies: call and say so first Or call (414) 533-6106 — for anything leaking right now, calling is faster.