# Original Northglenn Plumbing: We Know These Floor Plans Northglenn's original core was built as a planned community from a small set of house designs. Once you have worked on one, you have largely worked on all of them. - Repeat plan familiarity means faster diagnosis - Shower valve, laundry and heater closet work - 24 hour cover from our nearby Westminster shop ## Why does a planned community make plumbing easier to diagnose? Original Northglenn was laid out as a planned postwar community built from a limited set of repeating house designs. That means the bathroom sits in the same place, the waste stack runs down the same wall, and the water heater occupies the same closet across a great many houses. Afford-A-Rooter Plumbing uses that repetition to shorten diagnosis, because the same fault tends to appear in the same place in every one of them. ## Key takeaways - When houses repeat, faults repeat, so the failure we saw last week on one street is a strong first hypothesis on the next. - The same shower valve was fitted across large numbers of these houses, and they reach the end of their service life in the same window. - Laundry standpipes in these plans sit on a common branch layout, which makes the slow drain complaint highly predictable. - Afford-A-Rooter Plumbing is a short drive from Northglenn and answers the phone 24 hours a day under licence MP-18927. ## What fails most often across these floor plans? The tub and shower valve. It is the fixture with the most moving parts, it lives behind tile where nobody looks at it, and in a development of repeating houses they were all installed within a short period of each other. A valve that drips, will not hold temperature, or has become stiff is the single most common call we take from this part of Northglenn. [Shower valve replacement](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/shower-valve-replacement) covers what is involved, including access from the back side of the wall where the plan allows it. ## Why is the laundry drain always the second call? Because these plans put the washing machine on a common branch arrangement, and a washing machine is the harshest thing in a house for a drain. Lint, detergent and a large fast discharge combine to build a restriction in the same place, house after house. Once we know the plan, we know roughly where to look. [Residential drain cleaning](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/drain-cleaning/residential-drain-cleaning/denver-co) covers the clearing, and [drain gurgling](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/drain-gurgling) covers the case where the problem is venting rather than blockage. ## What about the water heater closet? Same closet, same clearances, same question every time: does a current specification tank actually fit, and is the flue arrangement still suitable. In a repeating plan the answer is consistent, so we can usually tell you what will fit before we send a truck, which saves a wasted visit and a return trip. See [water heater installation and replacement](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/water-heaters/water-heater-installation-replacement/denver-co) and [40 versus 50 gallon water heater](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/40-vs-50-gallon-water-heater) for how the size decision actually gets made. ## What repeats across Original Northglenn houses Because these houses were built from a small set of designs, the same components fail in the same places. This table lists what we expect to find and what we check on arrival. | Component | Where it sits in the plan | Common complaint | First check on arrival | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Tub and shower valve | Behind tile on the shared bathroom wall | Drips, stiff handle, temperature drift | Access panel on the back side of the wall | | Laundry standpipe | On a common branch off the main run | Overflows during the machine's discharge | Standpipe height and branch condition | | Water heater closet | Interior closet with limited clearance | Tank will not fit, or flue is questionable | Clearances and combustion air | | Kitchen branch drain | Long run to the main stack | Slow drain that recovers after cabling | Whether the line is scaled or bellied | ## Original Northglenn plumbing services - [Shower Valve Replacement](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/shower-valve-replacement): The most common single job in this part of Northglenn, done from the back of the wall where possible. - [Residential Drain Cleaning](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/drain-cleaning/residential-drain-cleaning/denver-co): Clearing the laundry and kitchen branches that these plans put in predictable places. - [Water Heater Installation](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/water-heaters/water-heater-installation-replacement/denver-co): Closet installs where we already know the clearances before the truck leaves. - [Sinks, Faucets and Toilets](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/plumbing/sink-faucet-toilet-replacement-repair/denver-co): Fixture replacement across houses whose original fittings all reached the same age together. - [Repiping and Pipe Replacement](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/plumbing/piping-replacement-and-repiping-services/denver-co): Whole house work in a plan we have already routed before. - [Emergency Plumbing](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/plumbing/emergency-plumbing-services/denver-co): A short drive from the Westminster shop, answered 24 hours a day. ## Original Northglenn and the north metro This page sits under our [Northglenn plumbing services](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/locations/northglenn-co) page. Every neighborhood we publish is listed in the [neighborhood plumbing directory](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods), and the [Denver metro service area list](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/locations) covers the wider region. [Original Thornton](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/original-thornton) is immediately east with a less uniform housing stock. [Broomfield Heights](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/broomfield-heights) is the same era to the west and [Lake Arbor](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/lake-arbor-arvada) is the next building wave. Northglenn calls are usually [low water pressure at one fixture](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/low-water-pressure-one-fixture) at a worn shower valve, [shower not draining](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/shower-not-draining), and [water heater pilot light will not stay lit](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/water-heater-pilot-light-wont-stay-lit) in a closet with restricted combustion air. ### Nearby neighborhoods we cover - [Original Thornton](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/original-thornton): Less uniform housing stock - [Broomfield Heights](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/broomfield-heights): Same era to the west - [Lake Arbor](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/lake-arbor-arvada): The next building wave ### Related problem and pipe material pages - [Shower valve replacement](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/shower-valve-replacement) - [Water heater pilot light will not stay lit](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/water-heater-pilot-light-wont-stay-lit) - [Drain gurgling](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/drain-gurgling) - [Northglenn plumbing services](https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/locations/northglenn-co) ## Frequently asked questions **Can you replace a shower valve without removing the tile?** In most of these plans, yes. There is usually an access route from the back side of the wall, which keeps the tile intact and the job short. **Why does my laundry drain overflow when the machine empties?** A restriction on the branch, or a standpipe that is the wrong height for the machine. Both are common on this plan and both are straightforward to correct. **Will a modern water heater fit my closet?** Usually, and because these houses repeat we can often tell you before we arrive. Where clearances are genuinely too tight we discuss alternatives rather than forcing a fit. **My pilot light keeps going out. Is the heater failing?** Not necessarily. In an interior closet it is often restricted combustion air rather than a faulty appliance, and that is a different repair entirely. **What licence do you hold?** Every Northglenn job is carried out under Colorado Master Plumber MP-18927 and Colorado plumbing contractor licence 2110. --- Source: https://www.affordarooterplumbing.com/neighborhoods/original-northglenn Afford-A-Rooter Plumbing, 10860 N Dover St STE 2300, Westminster, CO 80021. Phone +1-720-296-7972.