Seven in ten Ashburn homes went up since 2000, Brambleton, Broadlands and One Loudoun included, and only about two in a hundred before 1980. The old-pipe stories, galvanized steel and pinholed copper, mostly belong to other towns. Here a leak is usually a PEX fitting, a compression joint under a vanity, a hose bib that never got drained, or a toilet or washing machine supply line that has simply given out.
Loudoun Water draws a clear line, so you know who to call. It maintains the public main and the connection out to your meter, and repairs a leak there itself. The building service pipe and the plumbing inside your property are the owner’s. Water welling up at the meter box or in the street is theirs. A soft, wet strip of lawn running from the meter toward your foundation is on your side, and that’s the one we dig.
The part most owners forget is the pressure regulator. Loudoun Water’s rules put it on the customer’s side, and its own guide says most houses built after 1972 have one, a bell-shaped valve near where the line comes through the foundation. When it wears out, pressure creeps up, and the weakest fitting in the house lets go first. A hissing sound at night, or a water bill that climbs with no change in habits, is the tell.
Townhouses are 38 percent of Ashburn homes and condos another 19 percent, so a stain on a shared wall is common. Whether it’s your pipe or the association’s depends on where it runs: a line inside your unit is yours, a riser or main feeding several units usually isn’t. We trace it before anyone cuts drywall, and say which it is. One more thing Loudoun Water itself notes: chloramine can wear out rubber gaskets and toilet flappers faster, so a running toilet is worth a look before anyone blames a pipe.