From Port Orchard we are over the Narrows and off at Orchard Street in about 35 minutes, which makes Fircrest one of the closer Pierce County stops. Flat-rate pricing approved on your phone, a four-hour window, and a text when the plumber is leaving the last job.
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Fircrest at a glance for plumbing
Water
The City of Fircrest runs its own water system from city wells, with an emergency intertie to Tacoma Water. It is one of the few small cities in the area with its own groundwater supply.
Sewer or septic
City sewer. Fircrest collects wastewater and pumps it to the City of Tacoma's system for treatment. There is no septic in Fircrest.
Homes
Platted in the 1920s as a planned garden suburb around the golf course, so the oldest streets have 1920s and 30s Tudor and Colonial homes with basements, cast iron and galvanized. Most of the rest filled in between 1945 and 1970 with brick ramblers and split-levels on copper and cast iron. Very little new construction; the plumbing is old and the houses are well kept.
Ground and weather
A gently rolling glacial plateau between Tacoma and University Place, with gravelly outwash that drains well in most yards and a few low spots near the golf course and Leach Creek that stay wet. Sheltered compared with the Narrows bluff, but the December 2022 and January 2024 freezes still split hose bibs and garage water heater lines in the older homes. Winter rain overloads the oldest cast iron and clay drains.
The 1920s plat and its original pipe
The Tudors and Colonials along Regents, Alameda and the streets around the golf club were built when galvanized steel was the standard supply pipe, and plenty of it is still in the walls. Galvanized rusts from the inside, so a 1928 house with a weak second-floor shower is usually a pipe problem. Rust-colored water after a vacation confirms it. We repipe these homes in PEX, routing through the basement and closets so the plaster and the original tile stay put.
The drains are cast iron with lead joints, and in a basement house the cast iron stack and the under-floor main are both at an age where they crack and channel. A sewer smell in the basement, a floor drain that gurgles when the upstairs tub empties, or rust flakes in a cleanout mean it is time to camera the line. We replace cast iron with PVC and add cleanouts the original builder did not.
Brick ramblers and sixty-year-old copper
The 1950s and 60s brick ramblers that make up most of Fircrest have copper supply and cast iron drains, and both are reaching the end of a normal life. Copper pinholes show up as a green stain on a fitting or a soft spot in drywall. Cast iron shows up as a main drain that backs up without roots. We fix single leaks when that is the honest call and quote a PEX repipe when the copper has started failing in several places.
Water heaters in these houses sit in utility rooms or basements and are often the second or third unit the house has had. We replace them with Bradford White and A. O. Smith, add the expansion tank the city's closed system calls for, and strap and pan them. For gas homes on Puget Sound Energy, Rinnai tankless is an option we install regularly.
Fircrest water, Fircrest sewer
Fircrest is one of the few small cities around here that runs its own water from its own wells. The water is groundwater, so it carries a bit more mineral than Tacoma's river supply, and the pressure in the lower parts of the city can run high. We test pressure on every call, replace tired pressure reducing valves, and flush and anode-swap heaters that have scaled up.
Wastewater is collected by the city and pumped to Tacoma for treatment. The side sewer from your house to the main is yours, and on the old streets it is clay with roots from the big trees the city is proud of. We clear roots, run the camera, and excavate and replace broken sections with new pipe and a two-way cleanout at the property line.
Basements, freezes and the small stuff
Fircrest has more basements than most of our service area, and basements bring floor drains, laundry standpipes and sometimes an ejector pit. We rebuild floor drains with new traps, replace ejector pumps and floats, and add backwater valves where storms push the street main back into the house.
The freezes in December 2022 and January 2024 split hose bibs on the north sides of older homes and froze a few basement water heater supply lines. We replace hose bibs with frost-free models, insulate exposed runs, and make sure the main shutoff is a ball valve you can turn in an emergency.
Plumbing problems we see most in Fircrest
Local patterns
- Galvanized supply in 1920s and 30s homes on the original plat
- Cast iron drains in the brick ramblers channeling after sixty years
- Basement floor drains and old laundry standpipes backing up
- Clay side sewers with roots from the big street trees on Regents and Alameda
- Water heaters in original utility rooms and basements aging out
- Pressure reducing valves failing on the city's well-fed system
Neighborhoods and areas in Fircrest we serve
We work throughout Fircrest, including Regents Boulevard and the original 1920s plat, Fircrest Golf Club area, Emerson and Alameda, Contra Costa and the south end, Whittier Park neighborhood, Orchard Street border with Tacoma and Mildred Street and the University Place line, and around Fircrest Golf Club, Whittier Park, Fircrest Community Center, Regents Boulevard median, Thelma Gilmur Park. Population is about 7,000; ZIP codes include 98466.
Fircrest plumbing questions
Do you serve Fircrest from Port Orchard?
Yes. Fircrest is about 35 minutes over the Narrows, one of our closer Pierce County stops. Flat-rate pricing, no travel charge.
Who provides water in Fircrest?
The City of Fircrest, from its own wells, with an emergency tie to Tacoma Water. Sewer is collected by the city and pumped to Tacoma for treatment.
My 1920s Fircrest house has weak water pressure upstairs. Is it the city's pressure?
Usually not. It is almost always galvanized pipe that has closed up inside. We check pressure at the hose bib and flow at the fixtures and tell you which before quoting anything.
Can you replace cast iron drains in a basement house?
Yes. We camera the line first, replace what has failed with PVC, and add cleanouts. On a house with a full basement, most of that work is accessible without opening finished walls.
Do you offer sewer scopes for buyers in Fircrest?
Yes, and we recommend one on every Fircrest home, since almost all of them are on original or near-original side sewers.
