Toilet Repair in Washington

Weighted across 1,780,778 occupied homes. Separately, 56% of the state’s 1,888,334 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 70 towns we route in here, 2 are mostly pre-1990 housing and 18 are mostly post-1990 housing; on tenure, 25 are strongly owner-occupied and 7 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 Washington

Washington licenses are issued by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.

• Amboy 86% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Anacortes 73% owner-occupied · 51% pre-1990
• Auburn 67% owner-occupied · 52% pre-1990
• Battle Ground 81% owner-occupied · 35% pre-1990
• Bellevue 53% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Bellingham 56% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Black Diamond 88% owner-occupied · 30% pre-1990
• Bonney Lake 86% owner-occupied · 35% pre-1990
• Bothell 67% owner-occupied · 39% pre-1990
• Bow 89% owner-occupied · 61% pre-1990
• Brush Prairie 87% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Camano Island 91% owner-occupied · 47% pre-1990
• Camas 78% owner-occupied · 30% pre-1990
• Carnation 91% owner-occupied · 51% pre-1990
• Clinton 84% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Coupeville 83% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Duvall 90% owner-occupied · 43% pre-1990
• Eastsound 79% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Edmonds 73% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Everett 55% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Everson 75% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Fall City 88% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Federal Way 57% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Ferndale 77% owner-occupied · 46% pre-1990
• Fife 50% owner-occupied · 40% pre-1990
• Freeland 85% owner-occupied · 47% pre-1990
• Friday Harbor 77% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Gig Harbor 78% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Greenbank 91% owner-occupied · 44% pre-1990
• Issaquah 66% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Kenmore 70% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Kent 62% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Kirkland 62% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• La Center 91% owner-occupied · 32% pre-1990
• Lake Stevens 78% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Lakewood 35% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Langley 83% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Lopez Island 79% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Lynden 68% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Lynnwood 58% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Maple Valley 86% owner-occupied · 34% pre-1990
• Marysville 72% owner-occupied · 46% pre-1990
• Medina 79% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Mercer Island 66% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Milton 58% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Monroe 80% owner-occupied · 38% pre-1990
• Mount Vernon 68% owner-occupied · 56% pre-1990
• Mountlake Terrace 56% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Mukilteo 71% owner-occupied · 51% pre-1990
• North Bend 85% owner-occupied · 55% pre-1990
• Olga 66% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Orcas 85% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Pacific 58% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Puyallup 65% owner-occupied · 45% pre-1990
• Ravensdale 85% owner-occupied · 53% pre-1990
• Redmond 55% owner-occupied · 46% pre-1990
• Renton 62% owner-occupied · 54% pre-1990
• Ridgefield 85% owner-occupied · 28% pre-1990
• Sammamish 86% owner-occupied · 40% pre-1990
• Seattle 47% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Snohomish 85% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Snoqualmie 85% owner-occupied · 25% pre-1990
• Sumner 51% owner-occupied · 49% pre-1990
• Tacoma 58% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• University Place 61% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Vancouver 60% owner-occupied · 48% pre-1990
• Washougal 79% owner-occupied · 41% pre-1990
• Woodinville 79% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Woodland 71% owner-occupied · 45% pre-1990
• Yacolt 88% owner-occupied · 35% pre-1990