Toilet Repair in Virginia

Weighted across 1,158,431 occupied homes. Separately, 58% of the state’s 1,237,447 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 110 towns we route in here, 13 are mostly pre-1990 housing and 23 are mostly post-1990 housing; on tenure, 54 are strongly owner-occupied and 4 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 Virginia

Virginia licenses are issued by the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.

• Aldie 89% owner-occupied · 6% pre-1990
• Alexandria 53% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Annandale 70% owner-occupied · 91% pre-1990
• Ararat 71% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Arlington 42% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Ashburn 74% owner-occupied · 8% pre-1990
• Axton 77% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Bassett 78% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Berryville 78% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Blacksburg 42% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Blairs 84% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Bluemont 89% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Boones Mill 82% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Boyce 88% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Bristow 92% owner-occupied · 4% pre-1990
• Burke 85% owner-occupied · 91% pre-1990
• Callands 89% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Callaway 77% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Cascade 87% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Catharpin 94% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Centreville 73% owner-occupied · 46% pre-1990
• Chantilly 82% owner-occupied · 26% pre-1990
• Chatham 80% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• Check 92% owner-occupied · 46% pre-1990
• Christiansburg 66% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Claudville 77% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Clear Brook 85% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Clifton 93% owner-occupied · 56% pre-1990
• Collinsville 60% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Copper Hill 72% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Cross Junction 94% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Danville 58% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Delaplane 83% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Draper 87% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Dry Fork 84% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Dublin 71% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Dumfries 79% owner-occupied · 42% pre-1990
• Dunn Loring 97% owner-occupied · 36% pre-1990
• Elliston 70% owner-occupied · 52% pre-1990
• Fairfax 61% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Fairfax Station 96% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Falls Church 59% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• Ferrum 76% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Fieldale 81% owner-occupied · 91% pre-1990
• Floyd 85% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Front Royal 74% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Gainesville 85% owner-occupied · 10% pre-1990
• Glade Hill 80% owner-occupied · 39% pre-1990
• Gore 65% owner-occupied · 45% pre-1990
• Great Falls 95% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Gretna 70% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Hamilton 85% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Hardy 86% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Haymarket 93% owner-occupied · 16% pre-1990
• Henry 89% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Herndon 62% owner-occupied · 51% pre-1990
• Hiwassee 88% owner-occupied · 51% pre-1990
• Hurt 71% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Java 75% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Keeling 93% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Leesburg 77% owner-occupied · 32% pre-1990
• Linden 88% owner-occupied · 47% pre-1990
• Long Island 91% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Lorton 76% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Lovettsville 92% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Manassas 68% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Marshall 70% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Martinsville 69% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• McLean 64% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Meadows Of Dan 80% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Middleburg 77% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Middletown 77% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Nokesville 91% owner-occupied · 59% pre-1990
• Oakton 87% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Occoquan 73% owner-occupied · 39% pre-1990
• Parrott 81% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Patrick Springs 77% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Penhook 89% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Pilot 87% owner-occupied · 42% pre-1990
• Pittsville 74% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Pulaski 64% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Purcellville 91% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Radford 56% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Reston 61% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Ridgeway 84% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Riner 87% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Ringgold 80% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Rocky Mount 70% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Round Hill 90% owner-occupied · 22% pre-1990
• Shawsville 59% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Spencer 80% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Springfield 81% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Star Tannery 100% owner-occupied · 19% pre-1990
• Stephens City 77% owner-occupied · 42% pre-1990
• Stephenson 85% owner-occupied · 29% pre-1990
• Sterling 73% owner-occupied · 45% pre-1990
• Strasburg 77% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Stuart 74% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Sutherlin 78% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• The Plains 65% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Union Hall 93% owner-occupied · 44% pre-1990
• Upperville 20% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Vienna 73% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Waterford 88% owner-occupied · 41% pre-1990
• White Post 86% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Willis 81% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Winchester 63% owner-occupied · 56% pre-1990
• Wirtz 85% owner-occupied · 42% pre-1990
• Woodbridge 72% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Woolwine 93% owner-occupied · 61% pre-1990