Plumbing in Denver is freeze, old pipe, and clay that moves the sewer. Hose bibs and exterior-wall lines split on the night after a chinook. Galvanized supply still hides in bungalows and pinholes in plaster walls. Clay sewer laterals shift when the soil swells, then roots from the tree lawn finish the job. Basements take a backup or a seep that people blame on the last storm when the soil and the lateral are the longer story. Water heaters fail, but mineral scale is not the Wasatch version of the story. Say the symptom so the visit is not planned for the wrong failure.
Shut the main on a supply leak and say if the valve works. Separate that from a single slow tub and from several fixtures backing up together. A cable clears a clog. It does not repair a shifted or broken lateral. Ask for a camera where clay and trees are involved. If water enters the basement only after a long wet spell or a big melt, say so. That may be drainage and grading as much as a pipe. If the ceiling stains only during a thaw under a valley, the roof and the ice may be the source.
On a heater, say gas or electric. Ask for a shutoff, a pan, a discharge line, and haul-away, and ask whether the flue makes sense a mile up before a casual swap. Mention a furnace condensate line if the water is near the air handler. Irrigation backflow is a yard system. Mention it only if the leak is outside. Alleys sometimes hold the cleanout. Say if they do.
Tree-lawn roots and a clay lateral are a pair. If several fixtures gurgle after a wet month, say that before you describe a single slow sink. The cleanout may be in the alley. Mention it if you have used it, and mention the tree if it is already lifting the walk.
Do not leave a burst bib or a basement backup for the next swing in temperature. Call the number on this page.