MVP Plumbing works in Crosby and across the north-east side of Harris County. Two jobs out here so far: a water heater in an attic that turned out to be the reason water was running down the outside wall, and a tub drain in an apartment complex leaking into the unit below. Licensed master plumber, MPL 38224. Call 832-334-2836, 24 hours.
What have you actually done in Crosby?
Job notes · Crosby — attic water heater replaced
Called out for water coming out of a pipe on the side of the house. Up in the attic, the water heater was leaking into its pan, and the pan was draining to the outside of the house exactly as it is meant to. We replaced the water heater.
Job notes · Crosby — tub drain leaking into the unit below
An apartment complex with water getting into a downstairs unit. The tub drain in the unit above was leaking. We replaced the tub drain.
Why is water running down the outside of my house?
This is the Crosby call, and it is worth explaining because almost nobody knows what that pipe is.
A water heater sitting in an attic has a pan underneath it. That pan has a drain line, and the line runs to the outside of the house and stops there, usually somewhere you would never look. Its whole job is to catch water from a failing heater and take it outside instead of through your ceiling.
So when a heater up there starts to go, the first thing you see is often not a wet ceiling or a puddle by the heater. It is water coming out of a pipe on an outside wall, a long way from the actual problem. That is the system working.
Water at that outside pipe is not a plumbing mystery. It is the pan telling you the heater is leaking, before your ceiling does.
What it is not is something to keep an eye on. The pan buys you time, not a fix, and it only handles a leak — if the heater lets go properly, a pan and a drain line are not going to save the ceiling underneath it. See water heater repair and replacement.
Should I be worried about a water heater in the attic?
Not worried, but aware of the arithmetic. A tank heater in a garage that fails makes a mess on a concrete floor. The same heater in an attic fails onto your ceiling, your insulation and whatever is in the room below.
Around here a tank heater runs ten to twelve years, and box-store brands tend to go sooner. If yours is in the attic and it is in that range, that is worth knowing while it is still working — you get to choose the replacement rather than take whatever can be there by lunchtime.
It is also the situation where people most often ask about tankless, and the reason is usually not fuel bills. It is not wanting eighty gallons of water sitting over the bedrooms. That is a fair reason, and we will talk you through what converting actually involves, including the gas line question that most quotes leave out.
Water is coming through the ceiling in a downstairs unit
The other Crosby job, and the one property managers call about most.
In stacked units, water in a downstairs ceiling usually comes from one of two places above it: a supply line or a drain. Which one it is tells you a lot before anyone opens anything. A supply leak is under pressure, so it runs whether or not anybody is home. A drain leak shows up when the unit above uses the fixture — somebody takes a bath, and an hour later a tenant downstairs is calling the office.
This one was the tub drain, and the fix was replacing it. Straightforward work, but it is a same-day problem: every hour it continues is more damage to a ceiling in a unit that somebody is paying rent for. See leak detection and fixtures, valves and toilets.
Do you work with apartment and property owners?
Yes, and we are set up for how those buildings actually run rather than treating them like houses.
Repipes are the clearest example. An owner with an ageing building usually cannot take it out of service, and does not have to — the sensible way is one unit at a time as tenants move out, while the unit is already empty and the walls are already being patched and painted. The plumbing adds days to a schedule that was happening anyway instead of starting a new one. Tell us the turnover schedule and we will work to it.
For day-to-day work, what a manager usually wants is somebody who answers, turns up, and tells them straight whether it is a same-day problem or one that can wait until Monday. See commercial plumbing and repiping.
Everything we do out here
Water heaters · tankless · drain cleaning · hydro jetting · sewer lines · water line repair · leak detection · repipes · fixtures and toilets · water treatment · gas · 24-hour emergency. Full list on services.
Getting out here
We answer 24 hours across the service area. How fast we can get to you depends on where you are and what we are already on, and we will tell you straight rather than guessing to keep you on the phone.
For a burst line, the first thing we will do is walk you through shutting the water off before we even leave. See 24-hour emergency plumbing, or ask for a quote.
Common questions
Why is water dripping from a pipe on the side of my house?
Often that is the water heater pan drain, and it means the heater is leaking. The pan under the heater catches it and pipes it outside, so the first sign is water appearing at the wall rather than anywhere near the heater. That is exactly the call we got in Crosby - the heater was in the attic and the pan was doing its job.
Is a water heater in the attic a problem?
Not in itself, but a failure up there is worse than a failure in a garage, because everything below it is your ceiling. That is what the pan and its drain line are for. If you see water at that outside pipe, get it looked at rather than watching it - the pan buys you time, not a solution.
How long should a water heater last around here?
Ten to twelve years on our water. Box-store brands tend to go sooner. If yours is at that age and still working, you have time to decide properly rather than at seven in the morning with cold water and a wet ceiling, which is when most of these decisions actually get made.
Do you work on apartments and rentals in Crosby?
Yes. One of our Crosby jobs was a tub drain leaking into the unit below, which is the kind of call a property manager needs answered the same day. We also do repipes in multifamily one unit at a time on tenant turnover, so a building does not have to come out of service.
Water is coming through my downstairs ceiling. What is it?
In a stacked unit it is often the tub or shower drain above rather than a supply line - a supply leak usually runs constantly, while a drain leak shows up when somebody upstairs uses the bath. That is what it was in Crosby, and the fix was replacing the tub drain.
How fast can you get to Crosby?
We answer 24 hours. How fast we arrive depends on where you are and what we are already on, and we will tell you honestly rather than guessing to keep you on the phone. Water coming through a ceiling is one we treat as urgent.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224