What makes plumbing in older Downtown Canton homes different
Canton Cotton Mills opened in 1899 and added a second mill in 1923. The company built worker housing on the hills around the mills, small cottages that were sold to residents in the 1960s, and some of those houses still stand.
Add the homes built around the square and along the older streets near the Etowah River, and downtown has a concentration of houses that were plumbed long before PVC and PEX existed. Many have been updated, often more than once, which leaves a mix of materials that a plumber has to sort out before repairing anything.
Old pipe materials you may still have
- Galvanized steel water lines, which rust from the inside, slowly cut water pressure and turn water brown after it sits.
- Cast iron drain and vent stacks, which crack along the bottom of horizontal runs and leak at old joints.
- Clay tile sewer laterals, with joints every few feet that let tree roots in.
- Mixed materials from past updates: copper spliced into galvanized, PVC tied into cast iron, sometimes with connections that were never meant to join those materials.
Mature trees and old sewer laterals on downtown's hills
The older streets near downtown have the biggest trees in Canton, and the oldest sewer laterals. That combination is the main reason homes here see repeat main line clogs.
Roots grow into clay pipe joints, the line slows, it gets cleared, and a few months later it's back. On the steeper lots, the lateral can also run a long way downhill or uphill to the street, with more joints and more places for a section to settle.
If your downtown home has needed the main line cleared more than once, a sewer camera inspection is the right next step. It shows whether the problem is roots at one joint, which can be fixed with a spot repair, or a lateral that's failing along its length.
Plumbing services Downtown Canton homes need most
- Repiping to replace galvanized supply lines that have lost pressure or started leaking at threaded joints.
- Drain cleaning for cast iron lines with heavy buildup, with a camera check on lines that keep clogging.
- Sewer line repair for root-damaged clay and broken cast iron laterals.
- Leak detection and repair for pinhole leaks, failed old fittings and leaks under bathrooms that were added on later.
- Water heater replacement in tight closets and basements where older homes often tuck the heater, with venting checked against current code.
Renovating an older home near downtown? Check the plumbing first
If you're remodeling a kitchen or bathroom in an older Canton house, the walls and floors will be open anyway. That's the cheapest time to replace galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains in that area, rather than tiling over pipe that may fail in a few years.
A plumber can look at what's exposed and tell you what's worth replacing while it's accessible. Homes inside Canton city limits get water and sewer from the City of Canton, and plumbing permits for renovation work go through the city.
How service works for Downtown Canton homes
Call and describe the problem
Tell us the age of the house if you know it, and what kind of pipe you can see in the basement or crawlspace.
Diagnosis
In older homes, the plumber checks what materials are involved before recommending a repair, since a fix on galvanized or cast iron can affect pipe on either side of it.
Options and price
You get the repair option and, where it makes sense, the replacement option, with the price for each before work starts.
Repair and testing
Work is completed, tested and cleaned up.
We cover downtown and the rest of the city as a plumber serving all of Canton, GA. For Canton's newer neighborhoods, see our pages on River Green, Great Sky and Laurel Canyon.
Downtown Canton plumbing questions
How do I know if my older Canton home has galvanized pipe?
Look at the pipe where the water line enters the house or near the water heater. Galvanized steel is dull gray, has threaded joints, and a magnet sticks to it. Copper and plastic don't attract a magnet.
Is cast iron drain pipe still okay to keep?
Cast iron can last a very long time, but it does wear out, usually along the bottom of horizontal pipes. If you see rust stains, cracks or leaks at joints, or if drains are slow despite cleaning, have it checked by camera.
Why does my downtown home's main line keep clogging?
In older homes the usual cause is tree roots in a clay or cast iron lateral. Cleaning removes them temporarily, but they grow back through the same joint. A camera inspection shows where, and whether a spot repair will solve it.