Laconia has the oldest and most mixed housing stock in the Lakes Region — mill-era duplexes downtown, 1950s ranches off Union Avenue, and a wall of seasonal cottages at Weirs Beach that get shut down every October. We plumb all three, and we know before we walk in which one we’re dealing with.
Laconia is the one town in the region where you can’t assume anything about a house from the outside. Downtown and along the Union Avenue corridor, homes are on Laconia Water Works and tied into the state-run Winnipesaukee River Basin sewer — which means municipal pressure, a curb stop out front, and a water bill. Ten minutes away, up toward Gilford’s line or out past Parade Road, you’re back on a drilled well and a pressure tank in the basement. The plumbing problems are completely different and so are the fixes.
What ties the city together is age. A lot of Laconia’s housing went up between the 1890s and the 1920s for the hosiery and textile mills, and a good share of it still has original galvanized steel supply lines behind the plaster and cast-iron drain stacks in the walls. Galvanized closes up from the inside — that’s the house where the shower drops to a trickle when someone flushes. Cast iron rots from the bottom of the stack, usually right where it disappears into the basement floor. Both are repairable a section at a time, and both are worth knowing about before you buy or renovate.
Then there’s the seasonal layer. The cottages and camps at Weirs Beach, along Paugus Bay, and around Lake Opechee were built to be lived in from May to October, and many still are. Uninsulated crawlspaces, supply lines run under floors, and a water heater that spends the winter full of water in an unheated building — that’s a burst-pipe bill waiting for the first hard cold snap in December.
We also do a lot of multi-family work here. Laconia has more two- and three-unit rentals than the rest of the region combined, and landlords need the same thing every time: get it fixed today, tell me straight what it cost, and don’t make me chase you.
If your Laconia house was built before about 1960 and the water pressure has been “always kind of low,” that’s usually not the city main — it’s galvanized supply pipe closing up from the inside. Cut one out and look at the opening. Most people are shocked how little is left.
Seasonal shutdowns and spring startups, done methodically and documented in writing.
Tank and tankless, sized for your house and our cold inlet water — not just matched to the old one.
Clogged sinks, tubs, toilets, and main lines cleared — plus why it clogged in the first place.
Faucets, toilets, shut-off valves, tub and shower work, and remodel rough-in.
Emergency or routine, year-round house or seasonal camp — tell us what’s going on and we’ll give you a straight answer on cost and timing.
Describe what’s happening and where the property is. We’ll come back with a straight answer on what it likely is, what it should cost, and when we can be there. If it’s an emergency, say so in the first line.
We reply to every request within 2 business hours.
