Plumbing in Kansas spends the winter trying not to freeze and the rest of the year dealing with minerals, basements, and the odd slab. Hose bibs and rim-joist lines are the classic cold failure. A sump that quits during a wet spring puts groundwater on the floor next to the furnace. Water heaters in basements leak down a drain or across the storage. Rural and small-town supplies often carry enough mineral to crust a valve and rumble a tank.
Lead with leak, drain, water heater, or a sump that stopped. Say basement, crawl, or slab. Many houses here have basements, and a stain on that ceiling may be the bath above, a sweating line, or a boot failing at the roof. Do not collapse those into one story. If you smell gas at a heater, make the call from outside. If you already closed the main, say so. Old valves seize. Forcing one into a spray is not a favor to yourself.
Drains in older towns pick up roots from street trees and bellies from settlement. One slow sink is a local clog. A tub and a toilet that misbehave together are a branch or a lateral. A wet, sour spot in the yard is worth saying out loud. Groundwater in a window well is a grading and drain problem that looks like a plumbing failure and sometimes is both. Hail melt and a hard rain will fill a clogged well cover and then people replace pumps that were never the first fact.
Minerals show up as crusted shower valves, chalky heaters, and fixtures that seize. Say if the water leaves a film and the heater is noisy or short on hot water. Replacement conversations should include the vent, the pan, the discharge line, and whether the flue was disturbed by wind. If you cannot tell gas from electric without moving storage onto the burner, leave the pile and say the heater is buried.
The next hard freeze will look for the line you hoped was indoors. Call with the town and where the water is, basement floor, ceiling, yard, or no hot water at all. One location, plainly said, is enough to start. Call the number on this page.