Plumbing in Pre-1990 Los Gatos Homes: What to Watch For

A big share of the homes we work in around Los Gatos were built before 1990, and plenty of them go back to the 1950s and 60s. These houses were built well, and most of them have been remodeled at least once. But plumbing has a working life, and a lot of what was installed back then is now quietly past it. Here is what we look for when we visit an older Los Gatos home, and what you can watch for yourself.

Why 1990 Is a Useful Dividing Line

Plumbing materials changed a lot over the second half of the last century. Galvanized steel supply pipe gave way to copper. Clay sewer pipe gave way to plastic. Shutoff valves, supply hoses, and water heater designs all improved. A house built or fully replumbed after 1990 generally has materials that are still in their prime. A house older than that often has at least one system that is original, and original means it has been working for forty years or more.

Galvanized Supply Pipes Are on Borrowed Time

Galvanized pipe rusts from the inside, so it fails slowly and invisibly. The signs show up at the fixtures: weaker pressure than the neighbors have, a rusty tint in the first water drawn after a vacation, or a pinhole drip that appears in the garage ceiling. Many Los Gatos homes were remodeled in layers, so it is common to find newer copper feeding parts of the house while an original galvanized section still serves a back bathroom. If that sounds like your house, our repiping team can tell you exactly what is behind the walls, and our copper repipe page explains what a full replacement involves.

Tree Roots Find Older Sewer Lines Every Time

Older sewer laterals around here are usually clay, laid in short sections with a joint every few feet. Los Gatos loves its mature trees, and roots treat every one of those joints as an invitation. The pattern is familiar: a backup that clears and then returns a few months later, gurgling drains, or a patch of lawn that stays suspiciously green. A camera run tells us exactly where the roots are getting in, and in many cases trenchless sewer repair can replace the line without digging up the yard. We wrote more about this in our post on why tree roots keep ending up in Los Gatos sewer lines.

The Small Parts Fail First

The parts that cause the most midnight phone calls are the cheap ones. Original angle stops under sinks and toilets seize open, so when a supply hose lets go there is no quick way to stop the water. Rubber washing machine hoses harden and burst. Pressure regulators wear out after a couple of decades and let street pressure hammer every fixture in the house. None of these announce themselves ahead of time, which is why a slow stain on a cabinet floor deserves attention early. Our leak detection team finds the source without opening up walls on a guess.

A Simple Checkup Beats a Surprise

You do not need to replace everything in an older home. You need to know what you have. A maintenance visit covers the things that matter: water pressure and the regulator, the age and condition of the water heater, the shutoff valves you would need in an emergency, and a camera run through the sewer if backups have been a theme. If the water heater turns out to be near the end of its run, our guide to water heater replacement in Los Gatos walks through what to expect.

Simply Green Plumbing has been taking care of Los Gatos homes since 1988, and most of the houses we visit are older than our company. We are family owned, local, and fully licensed and insured, CA License 943556, with a 4.9 star rating across more than 80 Google reviews. If your home predates 1990 and you have never had the plumbing looked over, call (408) 358-6446 and we will make it painless.