An orange crust around the handle or head
On a house with a well, that’s usually iron drying where the water sits. It’s a hint the cartridge inside is carrying the same crust. A head can often be soaked clean; a cartridge crusted shut gets replaced.
Clifton, Virginia
Shower repair in Clifton.
For shower repair in Clifton, the plumbing visit is $49, or $250 after hours. Call SwiftPro, rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, at (703) 997-9757, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
SwiftPro’s plumbers in Clifton are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. We cover shower repair in Clifton: old frame houses in the village, big wooded lots on Compton and Yates Ford Roads. We pull the handle and show you the worn part. A cartridge, stems or a diverter usually lands at $250 to $450. A whole new valve, trim included, runs $950 to $1,400, and a new tub spout runs $200 to $400.
- The worn part shown to you before the price
- Our own licensed plumbers
- Run hot and cold, with a toilet flushed, before we leave
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews
Two of our plumbers in a Northern Virginia basement, beside the water heater and the supply lines that feed the bathrooms upstairs.
Get your price in writing
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Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceWe answer day or night, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own plumbers, our own trucksNobody here is a subcontractor with a magnet on the door
The price is settled before the workYou see the number in writing before anything is taken apart
What it costs
What shower repair costs in Clifton.
These are the same numbers on our shower and tub repair page, from jobs we’ve billed. The visit fee matches our plumbing price list.
Plumbing diagnosis visit
$49
Plumbing diagnosis visit, after hours
$250
Shower valve repair (cartridge, stems, handle, diverter)
$250 to $450
Shower valve replaced, new trim included
$950 to $1,400
Tub spout or diverter spout replaced
$200 to $400
Prices checked .
Where a repair lands in that range depends on the valve brand and how stuck the old cartridge is. You see the number in writing before anything comes apart.
A dripping sink or kitchen faucet is a different repair, with its own prices on our faucet repair page.
What’s different in Clifton
Clifton’s village houses draw from wells, and the iron in that water finds the shower valve.
The village is a quarter square mile of frame houses, many from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the shower in one of them was almost surely added later. It sits in a converted closet or a back bath, plumbed wherever the pipes could reach. That’s how one Clifton bathroom ends up with a valve from the 1950s and a handle from last spring.
The Town’s 2009 plan says the village houses draw from private wells, and that the Health Department found the water relatively good, with some high iron. Iron can leave an orange crust on a shower head and on the soft parts inside a valve. A cartridge gummed up with it gets stiff, then won’t shut all the way off. Cleaning or swapping it comes through the front, and the wall stays closed.
A handle that spins without moving the water has usually stripped its teeth. On an older valve the stem behind the handle may be the part to find, and we’ll tell you up front whether the maker still sells it, and whether a modern valve makes more sense.
Outside the village, 20124 is large lots along Compton and Yates Ford Roads, and across the ZIP the median owner home went up in 1988, with eight in ten detached. Those showers are the single-handle kind, and a drip there is nearly always the cartridge.
By the numbers
Clifton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The Fairfax County side of 20124
Clifton mail outside the town: five- to ten-acre lots in the Occoquan watershed on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, mostly on septic, and the 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer.
ZIP 20124 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1988 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 8 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes here are detached houses, where the shower valve can often be reached from a closet or a panel behind the wall.
The signs
When a shower in Clifton needs a plumber.
The handle is loose or spins
Usually a set screw under the cap that backed out, or worn teeth where the handle grips the cartridge. Tightening the screw only lasts if the teeth are still good.
It drips after it’s off
On a single-handle shower that’s the cartridge. On an older two-handle or three-handle shower, it’s the washers or the stems. Either one comes out the front, and the wall stays closed.
Need shower repair in Clifton?
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Choosing who does it
How to pick who fixes a shower in Clifton.
Questions to ask anybody who pulls your shower handle off, us included.
Did they ask whether you’re on a well before choosing parts?
Iron and sediment shorten a cartridge’s life, so a plumber who knows it can tell you what to expect. The county’s Health Department says to test a private well every year, which is worth doing anyway.
Did they pull the handle before quoting a new valve?
Most loose handles and drips are a cartridge or a screw. A plumber who prices a new valve without looking inside first may be selling you a wall you didn’t need opened.
Did they test it with a toilet flushed?
A shower that runs fine on its own can still jump hot when someone flushes. Ask them to run it both ways before they pack up.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
What our customers say.
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Prompt, courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. Job installation of kitchen sink faucet a little pricey but nowadays what isn’t.
- 5.0stars across 1,130 reviewsHow we count them
- ABBB Accredited, A ratingCheck it on bbb.org
- 2026Voted a Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves winner two years running: 2026 in 30 Northern Virginia neighborhoods, 2025 in Emerald Chase (Herndon) and Hunters Run (Chantilly)See it on Nextdoor
- #1BusinessRate Best of 2026: the top-ranked heating contractor in Fairfax, VirginiaSee our BusinessRate score
- Class AVirginia contractor, license #2705192276Look it up with DPOR
Where we work
Shower repair in every Northern Virginia town we serve
Next door to Clifton: Fairfax Station, Burke, Manassas, Centreville and Oakton.
Fairfax County
Arlington County
Loudoun County
Prince William County
Fauquier County
Stafford County
Every town on one page
Questions
Shower repair questions from Clifton.
My old Clifton house has the shower in a converted closet. Will you have to open the wall?
Handle, cartridge and diverter work comes through the front, and the wall stays closed. A whole new valve, at $950 to $1,400 with trim, can need access from behind. If it does, we tell you before we start.
Does the Town have to approve shower valve work in a Clifton house?
Swapping a cartridge or a handle is plumbing inside the house, and the Town’s FAQ says it doesn’t issue permits or inspect purely internal work. Its review board does cover exterior changes in the Historic Overlay District, so if the job touches the outside, ask the Town first. A valve repair here runs $250 to $450.
How much is shower repair in Clifton?
Most shower valve repairs we do run $250 to $450, with the visit at $49, $250 after hours. A whole new valve with trim runs $950 to $1,400, and a tub spout runs $200 to $400.
Will you have to open the wall or break tile?
Not for a cartridge, a handle or a diverter. Those come out the front. A valve replacement goes in from an access panel when there is one, and when there isn’t, a larger trim plate can usually cover the opening so the tile stays.
Ready when you are
Get the shower back to normal.
Call, or send the form at the top. We pull the handle, show you the worn part, and you get the price in writing before we fix it.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
SwiftPro Plumber & Water Heaters
4200 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Clifton and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.