Plumber InMatthews

What 1980s and 1990s construction means for your pipes

Polybutylene was manufactured for home plumbing from 1978 to mid-1995, which lines up closely with the town's building boom. Brightmoor dates to the late 1980s, Hampton Green and The Heathers to the 1980s and 1990s, and Thornblade to the mid-1990s and after. Not every house in those neighborhoods has polybutylene, and some have already been repiped. It is still the first thing worth checking.

Look where pipe is exposed: under sinks, at the water heater and where the main enters the house. Polybutylene is gray flexible pipe, often stamped PB. If you find it, or you are buying a house from that era, a plumbing inspection documents what is there. A pinhole leak hidden in a wall or below the slab can be traced with leak detection before any drywall comes down.

• Gray flexible water pipe stamped PB
• Shutoff valves that no longer turn
• The install date on the water heater label
• Stains on ceilings below bathrooms

Downtown and Crestdale: the oldest plumbing in town

The first train reached Matthews in 1874, and the commercial district that grew up beside the tracks is on the National Register. Seven of its ten historic buildings face Trade Street, and the Heath and Reid General Store dates to 1888. East of downtown, Crestdale was settled in the 1860s and annexed by the town in 1988.

Only about 3 percent of the housing predates 1960, by Census estimates. Those buildings are the ones most likely to still have cast iron drains, clay sewer lines and galvanized water pipe. Storefronts that have changed tenants many times can also have drain lines nobody has mapped. A sewer camera inspection records what is under the floor and where it runs, which helps before a renovation, a sale or a new lease.

A Tree City on a ridge between two creeks

Matthews holds the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA designation, and many of its subdivisions are now old enough for the trees planted at construction to be full size. The town sits on a ridge that drains north toward McAlpine Creek and south toward Fourmile Creek.

A healthy sewer pipe keeps roots out. They get in through a joint that is already leaking, and N.C. Cooperative Extension notes that roots can spread two to three times as wide as the tree is tall. That puts a street tree within reach of a sewer line on the far side of the driveway. If your main line slows down every year or so, drain cleaning clears it and hydro jetting removes the fine roots a cable leaves. A line that keeps clogging should get a camera.

Backflow testing on Independence Boulevard, NC 51 and at home

Charlotte Water supplies the town, and its backflow rules apply here the same way they do inside the city. Businesses along Independence Boulevard (US 74) and NC 51 need an assembly on each water connection, with a test on every one of them each year. At home, any irrigation system tied to public water needs its own assembly and the same yearly test.

The utility does not do the testing. It sends a letter when the test is due, you choose a company from its approved list, and that company submits the results. We handle certified backflow testing for $199 an assembly, file the report and send a reminder before the next one is due. The 30-Day Compliance Guarantee puts your test on the schedule inside 30 days. If the assembly fails, backflow repair comes next.

Matthews neighborhoods we serve

Downtown, Crestdale, Brightmoor, Hampton Green, The Heathers, Thornblade, Matthews Plantation, Matthews Estates, Windrow Estates, Wood Hollow, Ashley Creek, Eastwood Forest, and the streets in between.

Matthews ZIP codes we serve: 28104, 28105.