Plumber in North Richland Hills, TX

A city built in waves since the early 1950s

NRH began in the early 1950s, when Clarence Jones started dividing his dairy farm into house lots around what is now Cummings Drive; the first 188 homes were all brick or masonry. The city incorporated in 1953 and had annexed the old Smithfield community by 1960. Census counts trace the rest: 8,662 residents in 1960, 30,592 in 1980, 45,895 in 1990 and close to 70,000 in 2020. That left three generations of plumbing side by side:

• 1950s and 1960s houses: often still on their first cast-iron drains, with sewer laterals that have had decades to settle and let roots in.
• 1970s and 1980s houses, the biggest building wave: cast-iron or early plastic drains, and in homes finished between about 1978 and 1997, sometimes gray polybutylene supply line.
• 1990s and newer houses: mostly plastic pipe, where water heaters, valves and fixtures wear out first.

Ages change from street to street, so tell us the year your home was built when you call.

What tends to go wrong in NRH homes

• Leaks under the slab. North Texas clay soaks up rain, then dries and pulls back in drought, flexing foundations and the pipes beneath them. A warm spot on the floor or a bill that suddenly climbs calls for leak detection, then slab leak repair.
• Aging cast-iron drains. The pipe rusts from the inside until scale snags paper and grease, and cracks let roots through. When several fixtures slow down together, a camera inspection shows whether drain cleaning will do or the line needs sewer line repair.
• Polybutylene. It went into millions of homes built from about 1978 to 1997. Chlorinated water weakens it from within, and it tends to split at fittings with little warning. Repiping ends the guessing.
• Water heaters in garages and attics. Rust, a puddle at the base or lukewarm showers mean water heater repair or a replacement.
• Freeze damage. The February 2021 storm split pipes all over the Fort Worth area, and DFW's first freeze typically lands near November 22 (October 22 is the earliest on record). See our freeze prep checklist and frozen pipes page.

Water, sewer and permits in North Richland Hills

Your water and sewer bill comes from the City of North Richland Hills, not Fort Worth Water. NRH runs its own system and buys treated water and wastewater service wholesale, including from Fort Worth. The meter and street mains belong to the city; from the meter to the house is generally the owner's pipe, and that is what we repair.

A job inside NRH city limits follows North Richland Hills' permit and inspection process, not Fort Worth's. When a permit is needed, the plumber doing the work pulls the permit.

How an emergency call works

1. Close the main shutoff at the house; if you can't find it, use the valve beside the meter.
2. Call (817) 755-5621 with your street and the nearest main road, such as Davis Boulevard, Mid Cities Boulevard or Precinct Line Road.
3. We send our on-call plumber right away.

Emergencies include burst pipes, sewage backing up, a water heater pouring water and any leak you can't stop. More on our emergency plumbing page.

Where we work in and around NRH

We cover the whole city: the first streets near Cummings Drive, the Smithfield area by its TEXRail station, the blocks around Iron Horse Golf Course, homes near NRH2O and City Hall (built on the site of a former shopping mall), and neighborhoods off North Tarrant Parkway. Nearby, we also serve Richland Hills, Watauga, Keller, Haltom City and Hurst, Euless and Bedford. Every town is on our service areas page.

North Richland Hills plumbing questions

Call a North Richland Hills plumber

Call (817) 755-5621 with your address and what is happening. Work is done under Texas plumbing license # M-27587. See coupons for terms: $50 off for new customers, 10% off for seniors, military and first responders, a $0 dispatch fee with a repair and $150 off a new water heater.