Rental Turnover Plumbing Checklist for Sonoma and Marin Landlords

Why do the plumbing checks belong in the turnover and not the first tenant call?

An empty unit is the only time you can shut the water off at the main, work every valve, and pull a toilet if you have to, without scheduling around somebody's shower. It is also the only window where a small repair stays small. A weeping angle stop under a bathroom sink is a few dollars in parts on a Tuesday afternoon. That same valve, found at 11 at night after it lets go and soaks the subfloor, is an emergency plumber call plus a floor.

The EPA puts leak losses at 180 gallons a week, roughly 9,400 gallons a year for the average family, and figures household leaks waste nearly 900 billion gallons nationwide every year (EPA WaterSense statistics). Almost none of that shows up as a puddle. It runs quietly down a toilet overflow tube while the meter spins and the bill lands on whoever is paying it.

What should you check on the water heater?

Start with its age. A standard tank heater usually lasts 8 to 12 years, and the build date is coded into the serial number on the label. If the tank is past ten and you are about to sign a two-year lease, you are deciding right now whether that heater gets replaced on your schedule or on a Saturday night.

Then the straps. California Health and Safety Code section 19211 requires that all new and replacement water heaters, and all existing residential water heaters, be braced, anchored, or strapped to resist falling or horizontal displacement due to earthquake motion (California Health and Safety Code 19211). Two straps, one across the upper third of the tank and one across the lower third, is the standard detail. We charge $100 to $300 to strap a tank correctly. It is the cheapest line on this page and the first thing an inspector or a claims adjuster looks for.

After that, look for rust streaks or a damp ring at the base, a temperature and pressure discharge line that actually terminates where it should, and a soaked expansion tank if the property has a pressure regulator. Anything wet at the bottom of the tank is not a maintenance item. That is a water heater replacement waiting for a date, and a like-for-like 40 gallon gas swap runs $1,800 to $3,200 here.

Which fixtures quietly leak money between tenants?

• Toilets. Ten drops of food coloring in the tank, wait fifteen minutes, then look in the bowl. Color in the bowl means the flapper is passing water, and a flapper costs a few dollars.
• Angle stops. Every toilet and sink has one or two. Close and reopen each one. If it will not turn, or it weeps at the packing nut when it does, replace it now while the wall is dry and open.
• Washing machine hoses. Rubber hoses split at the crimp. Braided stainless is the replacement.
• Aerators and stops at the sink. Unscrew each aerator, rinse the screen, reinstall. A slow faucet is usually a plugged screen, not a faucet repair. A drip at the base of the spout is the repair.
• The meter test. Close every fixture, then watch the low flow indicator on the water meter for ten minutes. Any movement with nothing running means water is escaping on your side of the meter.

Does the unit meet California's water-conserving fixture rule?

This one catches small landlords regularly. California requires residential and commercial property built and available for use or occupancy on or before January 1, 1994 to be equipped with water-conserving plumbing fixtures. The compliance deadline for single-family residential property was January 1, 2017, and for multifamily residential and commercial property it was January 1, 2019 (California Civil Code 1101.4). A fixture counts as noncompliant if it is a toilet manufactured to use more than 1.6 gallons per flush, a urinal above one gallon per flush, a showerhead rated above 2.5 gallons per minute, or an interior faucet that emits more than 2.2 gallons per minute.

A lot of the rental stock in Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, and the older San Rafael and Novato neighborhoods went up well before 1994. If a unit still has its original toilets, they are almost certainly 3.5 gallons per flush or worse. Turnover is the window to swap them, while the unit is empty and you are already painting.

What drains should you clear before the rain starts?

September and early October are the last dependable dry weeks in Sonoma and Marin, so this is the cheap time to deal with anything slow. Fill the kitchen sink, the laundry standpipe, and each tub or shower, then let them go all at once. Each should take a full basin without gurgling or backing up. If more than one fixture is slow at the same time, the fixture is not the problem, the branch or the main is, and that is a drain cleaning visit rather than a bottle of anything. A camera down an accessible cleanout adds $100 to $300 if you want to see what is really in the line before a tenant moves in.

Outside, pull the leaves out of the area drains and check the downspout tie-ins while everything is dry and reachable. Run every hose bib and watch the connection at the wall. A hose bib that dripped all summer with nobody living there is a standard turnover finding.

What should the new tenant know on day one?

Walk them to the main shutoff and confirm the valve actually turns, because a stuck main valve is useless in the exact moment it matters. Show them the water heater and tell them not to stack storage against it. Put a plumbing emergency number in the welcome packet. A tenant who knows where the shutoff is turns a failed supply line into a wet floor instead of a ruined ceiling.

What does it cost if a check turns up a real problem?

The ranges we quote across Sonoma and Marin: a single fixture clog runs $125 to $350, main sewer line cabling $250 to $600, seismic strapping $100 to $300, an expansion tank $150 to $450, and a like-for-like 40 gallon gas water heater $1,800 to $3,200 installed. You get a written price before any work starts, quotes are free, and we answer 7 days a week. Call (707) 308-5599 and tell us the unit is vacant, because an empty rental is the easiest job we get all week.