Plumbing Services in Old Town, Fort Collins
Star Plumbing Co. LLC serves Old Town Fort Collins — one of the most charming and most plumbing-challenging neighborhoods in the city. Historic homes, aging pipes, and tree roots in the sewer line are part of life here. We know how to handle all of it.
What Makes Plumbing in Old Town Homes Unique
Old Town is one of Fort Collins' most beloved neighborhoods — and honestly, it's easy to see why. The architecture, the walkability, the proximity to everything that makes this city worth living in. But if you own one of these homes, you've probably already discovered that the charm comes with a few complications.
Most homes here were built between the 1880s and 1940s. That means the plumbing is old. Really old in some cases. Galvanized steel supply lines were the standard for most of the 20th century, and they corrode from the inside out over time. What looks fine on the outside can be nearly blocked inside with rust and mineral scale. Water pressure drops. Discoloration shows up at the tap. Eventually, they fail.
On the drain side, cast iron is common — and it actually holds up reasonably well. But the sewer lines that run from the house to the main? Many of those are clay tile, laid in sections with mortar joints that shift over decades. Tree roots find those joints. Then you end up with slow drains, sewage backups, and eventually a line that needs replacing.
Here's the thing about older homes: the problems don't always show up all at once. It's usually a slow accumulation — a sluggish drain here, a brown tinge to the water there, a hot water heater that never quite recovers fast enough. We've worked in enough Old Town homes to know how to spot what's coming before it becomes an emergency.
Renovation activity is high in this neighborhood right now. People are buying these homes and investing seriously in updating them — kitchens, bathrooms, basement finishes. That's great, but it almost always surfaces plumbing surprises once the walls open up. We've seen original supply lines that were patched three times over the decades, drain configurations that made sense in 1930 but don't anymore, and copper joints soldered with lead-bearing solder before the 1986 federal ban.
We're not alarmists about any of this. Most of these issues are manageable. But you do need a plumber who understands what they're looking at when they walk into a house like this — not someone who's going to be surprised by what's behind the wall.
Common Plumbing Problems in Old Town Fort Collins
These aren't the only issues we handle in Old Town — but they're the ones we get called about most. If any of these sound familiar, you're not alone.
Galvanized Steel Supply Lines
Original galvanized pipes corrode internally over time, reducing flow and eventually causing leaks or failures. Repiping with modern materials resolves this for good.
Root Intrusion in Sewer Lines
Mature elm and cottonwood trees are beautiful. They're also persistent. Roots find cracks and joints in older clay tile sewer lines, causing blockages and backups that get worse over time.
Slow or Backed-Up Drains
Old cast iron drain lines accumulate scale and debris. Combined with any root intrusion downstream, slow drains in older homes often point to something beyond a simple clog.
Renovation Surprises
Opening walls for a kitchen or bath remodel frequently reveals pipes that need updating — corroded supply lines, improperly vented drains, or cast iron that's been patched more than once.
Aging Water Heaters
If the water heater in your Old Town home is more than 10–12 years old, it may be living on borrowed time. Hard Fort Collins water accelerates sediment buildup, reducing efficiency and lifespan.
Lead Solder Concerns
Homes with copper supply lines installed before 1986 may have lead-bearing solder at the joints. It's worth knowing about, especially if you have children or are planning a renovation.
What We Handle for Old Town Homeowners
We cover the full range of residential plumbing for Fort Collins homes — including the specialized work that comes with older construction.
General Plumbing
Leaks, fixture installs, supply line replacement, repiping, and everything in between. We handle the day-to-day plumbing needs of older Fort Collins homes honestly and without upselling work you don't need.
Drain Cleaning
Slow drains and backups are common in Old Town. We clear blockages and can run a camera through your main line to see exactly what's happening — especially important if root intrusion is a concern.
Sewer & Water Main
If the camera shows root damage, collapsed sections, or severe deterioration in your clay tile sewer line, we handle the repair or full replacement. This is one of the most common big-ticket jobs in Old Town.
Water Heater Install & Repair
Old Town homes often have aging tank water heaters tucked into tight basement spaces. We replace them with properly sized units — traditional tank or tankless — and handle the install cleanly so it meets current code.
Renovation Rough-In
Kitchen and bath remodels in older homes almost always require plumbing updates. We work with your contractor to rough in new supply and drain locations, update any failing pipe we find, and get the job done right.
Water Main Service
The water main from the street to your home is your responsibility as a homeowner. If you're dealing with low pressure, discolored water, or a visible wet spot in the yard, that line may need attention.
What to Expect When You Remodel an Old Town Home
If you're renovating an older home in Old Town, here's some honest advice: budget for plumbing surprises. Not because something will definitely go wrong — but because in our experience, something usually comes up once the walls are open. That's not a criticism of the original builders. Houses from this era were built to the standards of their time. They've just had a lot of years to accumulate quirks.
Common scenarios we see during renovations: original galvanized supply lines that look passable but are corroded internally; cast iron drain sections that were patched with a coupling at some point and need to be properly replaced; vent stacks that aren't up to current code; and supply lines that were undersized even when they were new.
The good news is that when you open walls for a kitchen or bath remodel, you have an opportunity to fix these things once — properly — and not have to think about them again. We work alongside your general contractor or remodeling crew and try to keep surprises to a minimum.
Now, you might be wondering whether you need to repipe the whole house or just address what's obviously failing. Honestly, it depends. We'll give you our assessment of what we see and let you decide how far to take it. Some homeowners want to address everything while the walls are open. Others want to fix only what's actively failing. Both approaches are valid — they just carry different risk profiles going forward.
One thing we do recommend for any Old Town home getting a significant renovation: have us run a camera through the main sewer line before you start. If you're going to be adding fixtures or increasing load on an aging system, you want to know the condition of that line before you're committed to the project. Better to find out early than to deal with a backup after your new bathroom is finished.
Our Process for Old Town Plumbing Calls
We keep things straightforward. No mystery pricing, no pressure. Here's what you can expect when you call Star Plumbing Co. for your Old Town home.
You Call or Contact Us
Tell us what's going on. We'll ask a few questions to understand the situation before we show up — older homes sometimes need specific tools or parts that we want to have on the truck.
We Assess the Problem
We look at the full picture, not just the symptom. In an older home, the visible problem often has an underlying cause. We'll tell you what we find and what we think is driving it.
We Give You Options
For most issues there's more than one path forward. We'll walk you through the options — from a targeted fix to a more comprehensive approach — and let you decide what makes sense for your situation.
We Do the Work
We work cleanly and efficiently. Older homes can be tight and awkward to work in, but we're used to it. We treat your home with care and clean up properly when we're done.
We Follow Up If Needed
If we found something during the job that we think warrants a follow-up — a pipe that's on its way out but not urgent — we'll let you know so you can plan for it, not get surprised by it.
Frequently Asked Questions — Old Town Fort Collins Plumbing
Do you work on the old galvanized pipes common in Old Town homes?
Yes, all the time. Galvanized steel supply lines corrode from the inside out over decades, and many Old Town homes built before the 1960s still have them. We assess the condition and talk you through your options — partial replacement, full repiping, or a targeted fix depending on what the inspection shows.
How serious is tree root intrusion in Old Town sewer lines?
It's one of the most common plumbing problems we see in this neighborhood. The mature elms and cottonwoods along Old Town streets have aggressive root systems. Clay tile sewer lines — typical for homes of this era — are especially vulnerable because the joints aren't sealed. A camera inspection is the only way to know how much root growth you're dealing with. In many cases, regular drain cleaning buys time. In others, a full sewer line replacement is the more practical long-term move.
We're renovating our Old Town kitchen. Can you handle the plumbing rough-in?
Absolutely. Kitchen and bathroom renovations in older homes almost always turn up surprises — corroded stub-outs, undersized supply lines, or cast iron that's been patched more than once. We do the rough-in, handle any needed upgrades behind the walls, and connect your new fixtures so your contractor can close up and move on.
Should I be concerned about lead solder in my Old Town home's pipes?
If your home was built before 1986, there's a reasonable chance the copper joints were soldered with lead-bearing solder — that was standard practice at the time. The risk is generally considered low for healthy adults but more of a concern for children and pregnant women. A water quality test can tell you whether lead is present at your tap. We can also resolder or replace suspect sections if needed.
How do I know if my sewer line needs to be replaced vs. just cleaned?
The honest answer is that you can't tell without a camera inspection. Drain cleaning can clear a root blockage temporarily, but if the roots are coming back every year and the pipe is degraded, cleaning is really just delaying the inevitable. We'll show you what the camera finds and give you an honest assessment of whether cleaning is the right move or whether replacement makes more sense in your situation.
A Fort Collins Plumber Who Knows These Streets
We believe the best plumber for an older neighborhood is one who's worked in a lot of older homes — not one who's learning on yours. Old Town Fort Collins has some of the most character-rich housing stock in northern Colorado, and the plumbing underneath it reflects about a century of construction, repair, and renovation work by a lot of different hands.
We've worked on homes throughout Old Town — north of Mountain Avenue, south toward Drake, east and west of College. The housing stock varies a bit by era depending on where you are in the neighborhood, but the underlying challenges are similar: aging supply lines, old drain systems, and sewer lines that were installed when these trees were saplings.
Honestly, we like working in this neighborhood. The homes have good bones and the owners typically care about doing things right. That's a good combination for us.
We also serve other Fort Collins neighborhoods, including City Park, Rigden Farm, Fossil Lake Ranch, and the Timberline Area. And if you're outside the city limits, we cover Loveland, Wellington, Laporte, and surrounding communities.
Whether it's a straightforward drain cleaning, a water heater replacement, or a full sewer line replacement — we'll tell you what we think, give you options, and do the work correctly. That's the commitment we make to every customer in every neighborhood we serve.
Give us a call or reach out by email. We're happy to talk through your situation before you commit to anything.
Serving Old Town and all of Fort Collins, CO
(970) 672-3282 | team@starplumbingco.com