If you smell gas, leave the building and call 911 and your gas utility from outside before anything else.
Two things make gas work in Salt Lake City different from the suburbs. The first is the housing: a large share of it is old, with finished plaster, small mechanical spaces, basements that have been converted, and piping that has been modified by many hands. The second is process. Gas work requires a permit and an inspection, which is true everywhere and is more visible here, and it frequently requires coordinating with the utility as well. Both of those are reasons to use a licensed contractor who does this routinely rather than someone willing to skip the paperwork.
Gas piping work requires a permit and an inspection. That is the rule everywhere in the state, and the reason it exists is that a gas leak is not a problem that stays with the person who caused it. An inspection means an independent set of eyes confirming the piping was sized correctly, supported correctly, pressure-tested and properly terminated.
Beyond safety, there is a practical reason to insist on it. Unpermitted gas work turns up when you sell the house, when an insurer investigates a claim, and when the next contractor opens a wall. Any of those is more expensive and more awkward than the permit would have been, and in the insurance case it can be a great deal more expensive.
So when you take quotes, ask explicitly who pulls the permit and whether the price includes it. A contractor who suggests the work does not need one, or offers a lower price for doing it without, is offering you their risk at a discount.
In an older Salt Lake City house the route matters more than anywhere, because the surfaces are plaster rather than drywall, the trim is original, and the repair after a careless installation is a specialist job in itself. The questions to settle before work starts are where the pipe will run, where surfaces will be opened, who repairs them, and what the finish will look like.
Often there is a less invasive route that takes longer to install and costs more in labor while costing much less in repair. Through a basement ceiling rather than a finished wall, up a closet rather than through a plastered hallway, along a joist bay rather than across it. A contractor who walks the house and offers options is giving you a choice worth having.
Older houses also tend to have small, congested mechanical areas where new piping has to fit around existing plumbing, ducting and wiring, with required clearances and support spacing that cannot be compromised to make it fit. If the only way to install something is to violate a clearance, the answer is a different route, not a tighter squeeze.
Anything that changes the service — a larger meter, a relocated meter, a new service to a structure — involves the gas utility on their schedule rather than yours, and that can be the long pole in a project. The right time to start that conversation is at the planning stage, not when the contractor is ready.
It is also worth knowing the division of responsibility. The utility owns the service up to and including the meter; the piping on the house side of the meter is yours. A leak on your side is your contractor; a problem at or before the meter is the utility, and they will come out for a suspected leak.
On that point, the one thing that matters more than everything above: if you smell gas, hear hissing, or feel unwell with a gas appliance running, leave the building, do not operate switches or anything that could spark, and call 911 and the gas utility from outside. That is not a repair decision to weigh up. Make the call and have someone come out.
Yes, gas piping work requires a permit and an inspection, and the inspection is an independent check that the piping was sized, supported, pressure-tested and terminated correctly. Beyond safety, unpermitted gas work turns up when you sell, when an insurer investigates a claim, and when the next contractor opens a wall. Ask who pulls the permit and whether the quote includes it.
Discuss the route before work starts, and ask for options. There is often a less invasive path that costs more in labor and far less in repair — through a basement ceiling rather than a finished wall, up a closet rather than through a plastered hallway, along a joist bay rather than across it. Settle who repairs surfaces and what the finish will look like at the same time.
The utility owns the service up to and including the meter; the piping on the house side is yours and is your contractor’s work. They will come out for a suspected leak either way. More importantly: if you smell gas, hear hissing, or feel unwell with a gas appliance running, leave the building, do not operate switches or anything that could spark, and call 911 and the utility from outside.
Describe the appliance and the run, and we'll match you with a licensed contractor who sizes it properly.
Get a Gas Contractor OutA short description is enough — we'll follow up to confirm details and get someone scheduled.
