We come down from Port Orchard in twenty minutes or so, by Highway 16 or straight down Banner, and we come with pressure tanks, switches, effluent pumps and water heaters on the truck. For an emergency, evening, weekend and after-hours calls are answered, and a pump failure that leaves a household with no water counts.
Pricing is flat-rate and approved electronically before we start. Repairs carry a satisfaction guarantee and extended warranty. The reviews behind our five-star average include Olalla customers who were told by someone else that they needed a new pump and found out from us that the pressure switch had simply failed.
Olalla at a glance for plumbing
Water
Private wells dominate. There is no large water district in Olalla; a handful of small community well systems serve clusters of homes near the bay and along Banner Road, and nearly everything else draws from its own well.
Sewer or septic
No public sewer anywhere in Olalla. Every property is on septic, from the small lots around the bay to the five-acre parcels in Crescent Valley and along Nelson Road.
Homes
Olalla became a commuter community after the Narrows Bridge opened, so the housing is mostly 1970s through 2000s homes on acreage: ranch houses, split-levels, daylight basements and a lot of shops and outbuildings. Around the bay and at Fragaria there are older 1920s to 1950s cottages on the water. Expect long private water lines, pressure tanks in garages and well houses, and plenty of owner-built additions with creative plumbing.
Ground and weather
Olalla is a web of valleys and ridges running down to Colvos Passage. Olalla Creek drains a flat, wet valley floor; the ridges are glacial till with hardpan near the surface. Waterfront lots at the bay and Fragaria sit under steep clay bluffs. Water tables are high in the valleys, and the ridges shed runoff into crawlspaces every winter. A typical South Kitsap rainy season from October to April, with Olalla Creek and the valley floor flooding in the biggest atmospheric rivers. Cold air pools in the valleys, so the December 2022 freeze and the January 2024 cold snap were a few degrees harsher here than along Sinclair Inlet, and well houses and outbuilding plumbing paid for it.
Keeping a private well running
Almost every house in Olalla depends on a pump down the casing, a buried line to the house, a pressure tank and a pressure switch. The failures show up as water that surges and fades, a pump that never shuts off, a hum from the well head with no water, or a dry faucet first thing in the morning. We diagnose at the pressure tank and the gauge before anyone talks about pulling a pump.
The pressure tank is the most common culprit and the cheapest fix. When its bladder fails, the pump starts and stops every few seconds, and that short cycling is what kills pumps. We replace Well-X-Trol and Amtrol tanks on the first visit along with switches, check valves and gauges. If the pump is done, we say so plainly and refer you to a well pump company, then finish the tank and switch side once the new pump is set.
Homes at the top of the ridges sometimes have a healthy well and still get a weak shower upstairs. A DAB booster pump after the pressure tank fixes that. We measure first because the cause is often a clogged sediment filter.
Olalla well water and what it does to plumbing
Wells around here commonly carry iron and manganese, which stain toilets orange or black, and enough hardness to scale a water heater element or a tankless heat exchanger within a couple of years. Some wells pull hydrogen sulfide that puts a rotten-egg smell in the water. We test first, then size a Cascadian or Halo whole-house filtration system to the actual numbers, and add an A. O. Smith reverse osmosis unit at the sink for drinking water when the household wants it.
If the sulfur smell is only in the hot water, the fix is often a different anode rod in the water heater and a flush, which is a much smaller job than whole-house treatment.
Septic pumps, alarms and the line to the tank
With no sewer in Olalla, a lot of lots rely on a pump chamber to lift effluent to a drainfield on higher ground. The pump, its floats, the check valve and the alarm panel are the parts that fail. We replace effluent pumps with Liberty or equivalent units, set floats so the chamber cycles correctly, and test the alarm. If the tank itself is full or the drainfield has failed, that is a septic company's work and we say so.
We also repair and replace the drain line from the house to the tank, which in older cottages at the bay is sometimes crushed cast iron or Orangeburg under a driveway, and we install cleanouts so the next cleaning is quick.
Long driveways, buried lines and cold valleys
An Olalla water line can run several hundred feet from the well to the house, under gravel, pasture and tree roots. When old black poly or galvanized line fails in the middle of that run, the only clue is a pump that cycles when nothing is on or a wet spot that will not dry out. We locate the leak and replace the run in burial-rated polyethylene or PEX, with a shutoff at the house you can reach in an emergency.
The valleys hold cold air, and the two recent hard freezes split lines in well houses, shops, barns and uninsulated crawlspaces across Olalla. We repair the damage, replace hose bibs with frost-free models, insulate or heat-tape exposed runs, and install yard hydrants that drain below the frost line for livestock and garden water.
Shops, additions and propane
Olalla properties come with shops, barns, ADUs and additions, many of them owner-built. We run new rough-in plumbing for shop bathrooms and ADUs, correct undersized or unvented drains in additions, and add gas lines for propane stoves, heaters and water heaters. Natural gas does not reach Olalla, so water heaters are electric or propane. We install Bradford White and A. O. Smith tanks and Rinnai propane tankless units, and we size the propane regulator and line for the load, which is where a lot of rural tankless problems start.
Plumbing problems we see most in Olalla
Local patterns
- Well houses, pressure tanks and pressure switches on nearly every property
- Septic effluent pumps and alarms on sloped and waterfront lots
- Long buried water lines under gravel driveways and pastures that leak unseen
- Frozen pipes in well houses, shops and barns during cold snaps
- Iron and hardness in well water scaling water heaters and staining fixtures
- Owner-built additions with undersized or improperly vented drains
- Crawlspace groundwater in valley-floor homes needing sump pumps
Neighborhoods and areas in Olalla we serve
We work throughout Olalla, including Olalla Bay and the old landing, Banner Road, Olalla Valley Road, Fragaria, Nelson Road, Crescent Valley, Maplewood, Burley-Olalla Road and Willock Road, and around Olalla Bay Market & Landing, the old Al's store, Olalla Community Club, Olalla Bible Church, Colvos Passage and the view of Vashon, Olalla Valley Vineyard & Winery, The Olalla Bay bridge and lagoon. Population is a few thousand spread across a large rural area, with no town center to speak of beyond the bay; ZIP codes include 98359.
Olalla plumbing questions
How far is Olalla from your shop?
About 20 to 25 minutes from Port Orchard down Highway 16 or Banner Road. Olalla calls often fit the same day, and we text when the truck is on its way.
Is there public water or sewer in Olalla?
No public sewer at all, and no large water district. A few small community well systems serve clusters of homes; nearly everyone else is on a private well and a septic system.
The pump runs every few seconds even when no water is on. Is the pump dying?
That is short cycling, and it is almost always a waterlogged pressure tank or a leak in the buried line, not the pump. We check the tank with a gauge and a tire pressure test, then check the line. Fixing the tank now usually saves the pump.
Our toilets stain orange. What is in the water?
Iron. A water softener alone will not handle it; an iron filter sized to a water test will. We test, recommend a whole-house system, and can add reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink.
Can you plumb a bathroom in my shop?
Yes. We do rough-in and finish plumbing for shops, ADUs and additions, including the drain to a new or existing septic tank, and we work with the county on the permit.
The septic alarm went off. Who do we call, you or a septic company?
Call us first if the alarm is on a pump chamber. We replace pumps, floats and check valves and take those calls after hours. If the tank is full or the drainfield has failed, we will tell you and point you to a pumper.
Do you install yard hydrants for horses and gardens?
We do. A frost-free yard hydrant drains below ground when you shut it off, so it survives a freeze like the one in January 2024 that split regular hose bibs all over Olalla.
