Check the washing machine hoses
Annual · typically June
Why it matters
Behind your washing machine are two hoses under constant pressure, and the factory rubber ones have a service life people don't respect: about five years before the material starts giving up. They fail by bulging, cracking at the crimp, and eventually bursting — and a burst hose doesn't drip, it pours.
What skipping it costs
$3,000–$15,000
A washing machine hose runs at full house pressure 24/7 — the machine being off doesn't matter. When an old rubber one lets go, it can put hundreds of gallons an hour into the house, and it loves to do it while you're at work. Burst supply hoses are one of the most common water-damage claims in the country, averaging well north of $10,000 once flooring and drywall are in the bill.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Flashlight, Adjustable pliers (only if replacing), Old towel, Braided stainless steel hose pair if yours are rubber (~$20–$30).
- Pull the machine forward enough to see and reach the hoses.
- Look and feel along both: bulges, blisters, cracks, rust at the fittings, or any dampness. A bulge is not a "watch it" — it's a "replace it this week."
- If they're black rubber and you don't know their age: just replace them with braided stainless. Shut the two valves, drain into the towel, spin off the old hoses, spin on the new (snug plus a quarter turn — don't gorilla them), valves back on, check for drips.
- Test the shutoff valves themselves while you're there — if they won't turn or won't seal, that's a real plumber item, because those valves are your emergency plan.
- Leave 4+ inches between the wall and the machine so the hoses aren't kinked hard.
Habit worth stealing from people who've had the claim: shut the valves off before any trip longer than a weekend.
Hire it out
$100–$185National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A plumber will swap hoses in a $100–$185 service visit — fair if the shutoff valves also need work (seized valves genuinely are pro territory, and replacing them is the most valuable thing that visit can do). If the visit turns into a pitch for an automatic leak-detection shutoff system: those are real products with real value in high-end homes, but they're a want, not the fix — the fix is $25 of braided stainless and valves that turn.
Ask the tech
- Are you installing braided stainless, and are the washers new?
- While you're back there — does the standpipe drain look right, and is the shutoff valve seizing?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A 'flood prevention system' pitch ($500+) when $25 hoses and a working shutoff solve the actual problem.
- Being told rubber hoses are fine indefinitely. They aren't — the industry's own guidance is replacement every 5 years.
The call
DIY — it's a flashlight check most years and two garden-hose-style connections the year you swap them. Twenty minutes against a five-figure claim.