Plumber in Lebanon, TN

Old and new plumbing in Lebanon homes

Lebanon is the Wilson County seat, and I-40 runs through the city. The 2020 Census counted 38,431 people here. The latest Census estimate puts Lebanon at about 53,400.

Most of the housing is young. By Census survey estimates, the median Lebanon home was built in 2004. More than half went up in 2000 or later. New phases of subdivisions like Cades Bluff and Bartons Mill keep coming before the city planning commission.

Lebanon has older homes too, with about 1 in 5 built before 1970. The city says East Spring Street holds some of its oldest houses, including a Craftsman bungalow from about 1909. A house that old may still have galvanized water pipe or cast iron drains. Before work in one of the city's five historic districts, the city asks property owners to call its planning office.

Why is my Lebanon water bill so high?

A hidden leak is the first thing to rule out. The city's leak guidelines note that water can escape inside a wall or under a floor. If the City of Lebanon supplies your water, you are likely in its Leak Protection Program. The city says the program is its only path to a bill adjustment after a leak.

The rules are specific. The bill must reach at least twice your average, and each meter gets one leak adjustment in 12 months. You have 90 days from the first high bill to ask.

The city also wants proof of the repair, such as a plumbing company's receipt. Its form asks who fixed the leak and where it was. Our leak detection work starts at the fixtures and pipes, and once we find the leak we fix it.

Old water lines and rocky ground in Lebanon

City water in Lebanon comes from the Cumberland River. The city's lead service line inventory lists the pipe on both sides of each meter. It flags about 1,700 customer-side lines as galvanized requiring replacement. You can look up your address through the city's water treatment plant page.

Galvanized steel can rust from the inside as it ages. The flow weakens, and pinhole leaks can follow. Our water line repair work replaces a failed run of pipe between the meter and the house.

Reaching a buried line here can mean digging toward rock. NRCS soil maps show Talbott silt loam across much of the Lebanon area, a clay soil over limestone. The NRCS puts that rock 20 to 40 inches down. The city's stormwater code even has a section on sinkhole protection.

Before any digging, Tennessee law calls for a locate ticket through Tennessee 811 at least three working days ahead. Utilities mark their own lines, and private lines stay unmarked. When roots get into a sewer line or the pipe sags, our sewer line repair work replaces the bad section.

Gas lines past the meter in Lebanon

Lebanon runs its own natural gas system. The City of Lebanon Gas Department serves more than 12,000 customers through over 313 miles of pipeline.

For city gas customers, the city maintains the gas line only up to the meter. The line from the meter to the house or a grill belongs to the homeowner. The city calls it a yard line, and its notice says buried piping should be checked for rust and leaks.

That same notice points homeowners to a local plumber for the work. Our gas line repair work covers the customer side, and we pressure test the line when the repair is done.