Sump pumps & valves
On the low ground near the Holland River this is the defining job.
Newmarket
In Newmarket, it pays to know where the low ground is
The Holland River runs straight through town, and the land either side of it behaves differently from the rest of Newmarket in heavy rain. That single fact decides a lot of what we get called out for here.
The river is the thing
The Holland River cuts through the middle of Newmarket, down past Fairy Lake and the old Main Street core. Properties on the low ground near it sit closer to the water table than the rest of the town, and that changes the basement conversation entirely.
Two different problems get confused with each other constantly, and they need completely different fixes:
- Groundwater seeping in at the floor edgeThe water table rising under the slab. That is a sump pump job, and on the low ground near the river it is not optional equipment.
- Water rising up the basement floor drainNot rainwater. That is the municipal sewer overloading and pushing back, and only a backwater valve stops it.
Which one appears first is the single most useful thing you can tell us on the phone.
Main Street is genuinely historic
Newmarket has one of the better-preserved nineteenth century main streets in Ontario, and the buildings along it are a different kind of job from a house. Many are mixed use with commercial below and residential above, sharing stacks and services that were never designed for how the building is used now. Access is tight, finishes matter, and the drawings almost never exist.
We take that work on. What we will not do is quote it sight unseen — in a building of that age, what is actually behind the wall is the whole question.
Then the rest of the town
Stonehaven, Glenway, Woodland Hill, Summerhill and Armitage make up most of Newmarket by volume, built from the 1980s through the 2000s. Standard for the era: original water heaters finished, builder-grade shut-off valves seized, first-generation sump pumps well past their expected life. Not dramatic, but all arriving at once.
Most requested here
What Newmarket calls us about
Weighted toward water in the wrong place, and toward buildings older than the code.
Recurring backups
Blocked twice in a year is a symptom, not bad luck. We find out which.
Main Street buildings
Mixed-use heritage work where the drawings do not exist.
Water heaters
Boom-era subdivisions reaching replacement age together.
Questions
Plumbing in Newmarket
Is basement water common near the Holland River?
On the low ground either side of it, yes — those properties sit closer to the water table than the rest of town. It does not mean every basement floods. It means a working sump pump is real equipment there, and an empty sump pit is a warning that somebody once expected water.
My basement smells damp but I have never seen water. Should I worry?
Worth investigating. A damp smell with no visible water usually means moisture arriving slowly enough to evaporate before it pools, or a dried-out floor drain trap letting sewer gas up. Pour a bucket down the floor drain. If the smell goes within a day, that was your answer.
Can you work on a Main Street commercial or mixed-use building?
Yes, and it is slower work than a house, so we price it that way. Access is tight, the finishes matter, and the original drawings rarely exist. Shared stacks mean the work often affects a neighbour. What we will not do is give you a firm number over the phone.
What is the first thing to check if the sump pump did not run during a storm?
Whether it has power. Storms trip breakers, and a pump on a tripped circuit is silent in exactly the way a dead pump is silent. Check the breaker, then check the float is not jammed against the side of the pit. If both are fine and it still will not run, the pump has gone.
We are on the higher ground. Does any of this apply to us?
Probably not much. Most of Newmarket sits well above the river and behaves like ordinary housing — the calls we get there are water heaters, drains and fixtures, same as anywhere. The low-ground advice on this page is for the streets near the Holland River and Fairy Lake, not the whole town.
Nearby
We also cover
Water where it should not be?
Call for anything urgent, or book online and we'll confirm a window.