Plumbing tips for Fort Lee, NJ homes

Fort Lee sits on the Palisades at the New Jersey end of the George Washington Bridge, and it has two kinds of housing that rarely share a page. Along the cliff and the main avenues are high-rise co-ops and condominiums from the 1960s and 1970s, with newer towers since. On the side streets are single-family and two-family houses from the 1920s to the 1950s, many of them stone-faced colonials and capes. The plumbing questions are different for each.

In an apartment

• Know your shut-offs. Each fixture should have its own valve, and the unit usually has branch valves where the supply enters. Test them once; in a building of this age some are seized. If a valve will not close, the building can shut a riser, but only the super can do it.
• Drains are shared. A clog in a stack backs up into the lowest unit on that line, which may not be the one that caused it. Never pour grease, and use a strainer.
• Water heaters in older buildings are central; in some condos each unit has its own, often in a closet, and a leak there floods the unit below. Look at the date and think about a leak alarm.
• Insurance for the unit covers your fixtures and finishes. The building's policy covers the pipes in the walls. When a leak crosses that line, the paperwork matters, so photograph everything.

In a house

• Galvanized steel supply in the 1920s and 1930s houses, with the fading pressure that goes with it, and copper in the post-war ones.
• Cast iron drains now at the age of failure, showing as slow drains and damp basement floors.
• Steep lots. Houses on the slope toward the river have basements cut into the hill and the wet walls that come with that.
• Possible lead service lines in the oldest houses. New Jersey utilities are inventorying and replacing them; check with the water utility whether yours is known, and run the cold tap before drinking if the house has been quiet.

Water and sewer

Public water from the regional utility, moderately hard, and public sewer to the county authority. Pressure in the houses near the cliff edge can run high, and a reducing valve is a cheap fix for banging pipes and dripping relief valves.

When you need a professional

Plumbers in Fort Lee work under a New Jersey master plumber license, which is verifiable online. The Find a plumber page opens a search near Fort Lee and explains the check. In a building, clear the work with management first; many buildings require a plumber on their approved list for anything touching shared pipe.