Northern Kentucky
Plumbers across Northern Kentucky and the river counties
Kenton, Campbell and Boone, plus Grant, Pendleton, Bracken, Carroll and Owen, 34 communities and 43 ZIP codes. Steep ground above two rivers, and some of the oldest housing stock in the Commonwealth.
Open 24 hours. Tell us your street and what is happening.
- 34 communities
- 9 counties
- Hillside and combined-sewer work
- Same-day and emergency
Two rivers, steep ground and old brick
Northern Kentucky is built on the slopes above the confluence of the Ohio and the Licking. The river towns, Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow, date largely from the second half of the nineteenth century, which means stone and brick foundations, cellars dug by hand, and drainage that was designed for a smaller and less paved city than the one that exists now.
The slopes matter more than people expect. Hillside soils here creep downhill slowly and continuously, and a buried water or sewer line running across a slope gets pulled apart over years rather than broken in a moment. A pro looking at a service line on a Covington or Fort Thomas hillside is reading the ground as much as the pipe.
The older river cities also carry combined sewers, so a heavy storm can put the main under pressure and a basement floor drain becomes the relief point. Sanitation District No. 1 runs the sewers across the three main counties and will confirm what serves your address. Out in Grant, Owen, Pendleton, Bracken and Carroll it is a different world again: rural water district lines, private wells, and septic on ground that does not always drain well.
If your basement smells of sewage after rain
Do not run the washing machine or a shower, you are adding to a main that is already full. Call, and ask specifically about a backwater valve.
Sewage smell or water in a cellar? Say whether it is rising or dripping and we will tell you what to do first.
Get Help FastLargest communities
Where most of the calls come from
The three river counties hold most of the population; the outer five are farmland and small county seats.
Covington
Kenton County seat and the oldest of the river cities. Italianate row houses, stone cellars, combined sewer through much of it.
Newport
Campbell County on the Licking and the Ohio. Dense nineteenth-century stock and steep back streets.
Florence
Boone County, largely postwar and modern. Slab and crawl space rather than hand-dug cellars.
Erlanger
Kenton County suburb along the Dixie Highway corridor, a mix of 1950s ranch and newer infill.
Fort Thomas
Campbell County on the bluff above the river. Substantial older homes on genuinely steep ground.
Independence
Kenton County seat of government and one of the fastest-growing towns in the region.
Burlington
Boone County seat, surrounded by farmland turning steadily into subdivisions.
Union
Boone County, almost entirely built since the 1990s, with newer materials throughout.
Every community in the list below is covered on the same number, whether it has its own page yet or not.
Full coverage
Every Northern Kentucky community we cover
34 communities in Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Grant, Kenton, Owen and Pendleton counties.
Every community on this list has its own page now. Coverage and the phone number are identical whichever one you land on.
Ground conditions
What a pro expects to find in Northern Kentucky
Slope, age and sewer type, and in the outer counties, none of the above.
Hillside movement
Slow ground, broken lines
Soils on these slopes creep downhill continuously. A line laid across a hillside is under constant shear, so failures are progressive rather than sudden.
Repairs that ignore the slope fail again. Trenchless replacement with the right bedding is often the durable answer.
Combined sewer
Storm and waste in one pipe
In the older river cities one main carries both. A heavy storm raises it, and the lowest fixture in your house becomes the overflow.
A backwater valve plus a correctly sized sump is the standard pairing here.
Nineteenth-century stock
Stone cellars and cast iron
Hand-laid stone foundations, cast iron stacks and galvanized supply are all still in service in Covington, Newport, Bellevue and Dayton.
Access is the hard part: tight cellars and shared party walls mean careful, small-tool work rather than heavy plant.
Any hour, anywhere in Northern Kentucky.
The services called for most in Northern Kentucky
Old cellars, combined sewers and lines moving with the hillside.
Questions
Northern Kentucky questions
On a hillside that is usually the ground rather than the workmanship. Slopes here move slowly and continuously, so a rigid repair on a line running across the slope is put back under shear the moment it is buried. A durable fix accounts for the movement, flexible couplings, proper bedding, or replacing the run on a line that is not fighting the hill.
Sanitation District No. 1 handles sanitary sewers across Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties, and they will confirm whether your street is combined or separated. The lateral from the house to the main is generally the property owner’s responsibility, which is why a camera inspection before excavation is worth the money.
On a steep Covington or Fort Thomas street, sometimes not. Narrow one-way streets, alley-only rear access and party walls mean the honest answer is occasionally that a job has to be done by hand or trenchlessly rather than with an excavator. A pro tells you on site, before committing you to a method.
Yes, Dry Ridge, Owenton, Falmouth, Brooksville, Carrollton and the smaller places around them. Outside the towns these counties run heavily on private wells, pressure tanks and septic systems, so pressure and drainage complaints are diagnosed differently from a Covington service call. Say which you are on when you ring.
Not necessarily, and it usually should not be the first move. Galvanized supply and cast iron waste fail in identifiable sections, so pressure testing and a camera survey often show that one riser or one stack is the problem. Replacing that and planning the rest over a few years is normal and considerably less disruptive.
Moderately, less than in the Bluegrass but enough to scale a heater over time. Northern Kentucky Water District treats the supply, so the usual advice is to flush the water heater annually and consider a softener only if you are seeing scale on fixtures or shortened element life. On a private well in the outer counties the answer depends entirely on the well and should be tested.
No. Kentucky Plumbing HQ is a referral service: we take the call, work out what the job is, and connect you with an independent local plumbing professional who works in your area. Pricing, the work and the workmanship guarantee are between you and the contractor who attends.
Covington, Newport, Florence or a farm road in Owen County
One number for all 34 Northern Kentucky communities, answered around the clock.