Plumbing services in Laramie, WY

Six kinds of work make up almost every call we take. For each one, here's what it looks like from your side, what we do about it, how long it takes, and what it usually costs. No "call for pricing."

Emergency repairs, any hour

An emergency is water you can't stop, sewage coming back up, or no water at all in January. Call (307) 555-0142 at any hour. Dana or whoever is on call answers, tells you how to shut things down safely, and gives you a real arrival time, not "sometime tonight."

Both trucks carry copper, PEX, repair couplings, shutoff valves and a thawing machine, so most emergencies are fixed on the first visit instead of patched until morning.

Call the 24/7 line

Common symptoms: Burst or split pipe, often after a cold snap
Water heater leaking from the tank or relief valve
Sewage backing up into a tub or floor drain
A shutoff valve that won't shut off
What we do: Stop the water, find the failed section, cut it out and replace it. Then check the rest of that run so it doesn't happen again two feet down the line.
Typical timeframe: On site in under 15 minutes for most of Laramie. Most repairs take 1 to 3 hours.
What it usually costs: $250 to $650 for most burst-pipe repairs. After-hours calls add a flat $145, and we tell you that on the phone before we roll.

Same-day water heater replacement

Tank or tankless, gas or electric. If you call before noon we can usually have hot water back on by dinner. We quote the installed price on the phone from the label on your old unit, and we haul the old tank away.

If the heater can be repaired, we'll say so. A thermocouple, an element or an anode rod is a lot cheaper than a new tank.

Water heater replacement page

Common symptoms: No hot water, or it runs out in five minutes
Rusty or cloudy hot water
Popping or rumbling from the tank
Water pooling under the unit
What we do: Test before we quote. Repair if it makes sense, replace if the tank itself has failed. New units get new shutoffs, a drip pan where needed, and a combustion check at our altitude.
Typical timeframe: 2 to 4 hours for a tank swap. Most of a day for a first-time tankless install.
What it usually costs: $1,650 to $2,400 installed for a 40 or 50 gallon tank. $3,800 to $5,600 for tankless. Repairs run $150 to $450.

Drains cleared, and kept clear

Anyone can punch a hole through a clog. The useful part is knowing why it clogged. In Laramie it's usually one of three things: grease in a long flat kitchen line, cottonwood roots in an old clay sewer, or a belly in the pipe where the ground has settled.

We cable the line, and on main lines we run a camera so you can see it yourself. If the honest answer is "stop pouring bacon grease down it," that's what you'll hear.

Get a drain quote

Common symptoms: A sink or tub that drains slower every week
Gurgling from a toilet when the washer drains
Water at the basement floor drain
The same clog coming back every few months
What we do: Cable the line from the closest cleanout, flush it, and camera the main if it's a repeat problem. You get the footage and a plain explanation.
Typical timeframe: About an hour for a single fixture. 2 to 3 hours for a main line with camera.
What it usually costs: $165 to $285 for one fixture. $325 to $550 for a main line with a camera inspection.

Leak detection that finds the real leak

A stain on the ceiling tells you where water ended up, not where it started. We find the source first with pressure tests, a listening device and a thermal camera, so the only drywall or concrete that gets cut is the piece directly over the problem.

Once it's located, you get a separate price for the repair. You're free to think about it. We won't push a whole-house repipe to stop one leak.

Get a leak quote

Common symptoms: A water bill that jumped for no reason
The meter spinning with every tap off
A warm spot on a slab floor
Musty smell or staining with no obvious source
What we do: Isolate hot from cold and inside from outside, pressure test each side, then pinpoint the spot by sound and temperature. We mark it and show you.
Typical timeframe: 1 to 2 hours to locate. Most repairs happen the same visit.
What it usually costs: $225 to $425 to locate. The repair is quoted separately once we know what it is.

Well pump & pressure tank service

A lot of Albany County isn't on city water. If your pump short-cycles, the pressure sags in the shower, or the taps went dry overnight, the fix might be a $30 pressure switch or it might be a pump 300 feet down. We test in order, cheapest cause first.

We work on wells every week, not once a year, and we carry switches, gauges, tank tees and a couple of common pressure tanks on the truck.

Get a well service quote

Common symptoms: Pump clicking on and off every few seconds
Pressure that surges, then drops
Air spitting from the faucets
No water at all, breaker not tripped
What we do: Check the switch, gauge and tank air charge first, then amp-draw the pump. If the pump has to come up, we pull it, replace it and sanitize the well.
Typical timeframe: 1 to 2 hours for switch or tank work. A pump pull is usually one full day.
What it usually costs: $180 to $320 for a switch and gauge. $850 to $1,600 for a pressure tank. $2,400 to $4,800 for a pump, depending on depth.

Fixtures installed right the first time

Faucets, toilets, shower valves, garbage disposals, hose bibs. Buy your own and we'll install it, or tell us what you want and we'll bring it at our cost plus a flat handling fee that's on the quote. No markup games either way.

Every install gets new supply lines and a working shutoff valve, because the old ones are usually the next thing to fail.

Get an install quote

Common requests: Kitchen or bath faucet that drips or wobbles
Toilet that runs, rocks or won't flush well
Shower valve that won't hold temperature
Frost-free hose bib before winter
What we do: Install it, test it under pressure, check for leaks below, and haul off the old fixture and the packaging.
Typical timeframe: 1 to 2 hours each. A shower valve can take half a day if the wall has to be opened.
What it usually costs: Labor: $160 to $280 for a faucet, $220 to $380 for a toilet, $450 to $850 for a shower valve, $240 to $420 for a frost-free hose bib.

Frozen pipes: the Laramie winter section

At 7,200 feet with wind off the Snowy Range, twenty below isn't unusual. Pipes on north walls, in crawlspaces and in unheated cabins freeze first. From December through February this is half our emergency calls.

If a pipe is frozen right now

Open the faucet it feeds. A trickle means it's only partly frozen.
Find your main shutoff and make sure it turns, in case the pipe has already split.
Warm the pipe with a hair dryer or a space heater pointed at the area. Never an open flame.
If you can't reach it, or nothing changes in 30 minutes, call. We thaw with a machine built for it.

Before the next cold snap

Disconnect garden hoses by October
Leave cabinet doors open on outside walls
Let the far faucet drip when it drops below zero
Keep the heat at 55 or higher if you travel
Have us insulate or reroute the one pipe that freezes every year

What thawing usually costs

$195 to $450

Depends on how far in the freeze is and whether the pipe split. If it did, the repair is quoted on the spot before we start.

Call (307) 555-0142

About these prices. Pinecrest Plumbing is a fictional business and the ranges above are illustrative. On a real site they'd come from the owner's last year of invoices, which is exactly why customers trust them.

Not sure which one you've got?

Describe it in the quote form or just call. Half of our calls start with "I don't know what this is, but."

Call (307) 555-0142 Get a quote