Toilet Repair in Delaware

Weighted across 394,625 occupied homes. Separately, 55% of the state’s 455,704 housing units — a wider universe, because it includes vacant ones — were built before 1990, which is before the Energy Policy Act of 1992 set a 1.6 gallon flush maximum.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, tables B25003 (tenure) and B25034 (year structure built), 2023 release. Flush volumes: US EPA WaterSense, tank-type toilet supporting statement.

A state average hides the thing that matters. Of the 43 towns we route in here, 6 are mostly pre-1990 housing and 23 are mostly post-1990 housing; on tenure, 26 are strongly owner-occupied and 1 are renter-heavy.

The two are close to independent of each other, so an old town is not reliably an owning town or a renting one. That is why every town page below carries its own pair of figures rather than inheriting these.

The fault list does not vary by state. A running tank is the flapper or the fill valve, and EPA publishes a ten-minute test that tells them apart. Water at the base is four different faults, one of which is condensation and not a leak at all. A fixture that rocks is the one that causes the seal failure you will meet later.

What varies by town is who fixes it. In a rented home the toilet is normally the landlord’s repair, and in the towns above that is a large share of households.

Checking a credential in Delaware

Delaware licenses are issued by the Delaware Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.

• Bear 80% owner-occupied · 31% pre-1990
• Bethany Beach 98% owner-occupied · 52% pre-1990
• Bridgeville 78% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Camden Wyoming 82% owner-occupied · 40% pre-1990
• Claymont 53% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Clayton 89% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Dagsboro 92% owner-occupied · 37% pre-1990
• Delaware City 76% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Delmar 83% owner-occupied · 47% pre-1990
• Dover 58% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Ellendale 77% owner-occupied · 40% pre-1990
• Felton 87% owner-occupied · 43% pre-1990
• Fenwick Island 89% owner-occupied · 61% pre-1990
• Frankford 88% owner-occupied · 24% pre-1990
• Frederica 85% owner-occupied · 44% pre-1990
• Georgetown 68% owner-occupied · 47% pre-1990
• Greenwood 74% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Harbeson 99% owner-occupied · 24% pre-1990
• Harrington 75% owner-occupied · 45% pre-1990
• Hartly 74% owner-occupied · 43% pre-1990
• Hockessin 86% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Houston 73% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Laurel 66% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Lewes 83% owner-occupied · 31% pre-1990
• Lincoln 82% owner-occupied · 39% pre-1990
• Magnolia 90% owner-occupied · 22% pre-1990
• Marydel 93% owner-occupied · 30% pre-1990
• Middletown 86% owner-occupied · 16% pre-1990
• Milford 63% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Millsboro 82% owner-occupied · 28% pre-1990
• Milton 90% owner-occupied · 25% pre-1990
• New Castle 67% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Newark 63% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Ocean View 91% owner-occupied · 22% pre-1990
• Odessa 85% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Port Penn 92% owner-occupied · 100% pre-1990
• Rehoboth Beach 88% owner-occupied · 44% pre-1990
• Seaford 73% owner-occupied · 56% pre-1990
• Selbyville 88% owner-occupied · 25% pre-1990
• Smyrna 83% owner-occupied · 35% pre-1990
• Townsend 89% owner-occupied · 26% pre-1990
• Viola 82% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Wilmington 65% owner-occupied · 86% pre-1990