Lyman began as Groce's Stop, a farming crossroads, and became a mill town almost overnight. Pacific Mills bought more than 700 acres, built its printing and finishing plant in 1924, and in 1927 built a village of 375 houses for its workers, with larger homes on Ridge Road for the executives. Burlington bought the plant in 1954, the town incorporated, and the mill closed for good in 2005.
The village was unusual for its day. Pacific Mills laid water mains and sewer pipe under the streets and gave every house indoor plumbing in the 1920s, when that was rare in rural South Carolina. It also means the oldest plumbing in Lyman is close to a hundred years old, and much of it has been patched, replaced or extended since.
Today water comes from SJWD, which treats it at its plant on Groce Road in Lyman. Sewer is the Town of Lyman's, billed through SJWD. Natural gas is the Greer Commission of Public Works. SJWD water is very soft, around 6 to 8 milligrams per liter, so mineral scale is rarely what ends a Lyman water heater's life; sediment and age are.
Permits start at Town Hall, where the planning and zoning administrator signs off first. Since September 2021, Lyman has partnered with CC&I Services for the building permit and inspections.
Lyman at a glance
- Natural gas
- Greer CPW. The Town of Lyman lists the Greer Commission of Public Works as its natural gas provider.
- Water
- SJWD Water District
- Sewer
- Town of Lyman (billed through SJWD)
- Permits
- Town of Lyman zoning approval, then CC&I Services
- Housing
- The 1927 Pacific Mills village of about 375 houses, larger homes on Ridge Road, and newer subdivisions.
Plumbing and gas in Lyman: what to know
Mill-house plumbing nearing a century
A house built in 1927 has likely been through galvanized steel, copper and perhaps PEX, sometimes all in the same wall. Cast iron or clay drains may still run under the floor and out toward the street. When one part of an old system fails, check what it is connected to before replacing just that piece.
Sewer laterals under old streets
The village sewer dates to the 1920s. The private lateral from each house to the main belongs to the homeowner, and where an original clay or cast iron lateral is still in service, roots, offset joints and cracks are common. A camera inspection shows whether cleaning will hold or the line needs repair.
Adding gas to a mill house
Many of the village houses were not built with gas in mind. Adding a gas water heater, range, furnace or gas logs means a new run from a Greer CPW meter, sized for everything that will be on it, then pressure-tested and inspected before anything is lit.
Crawlspaces and cold snaps
Many older Lyman homes sit on crawlspaces, with supply lines under the floor. A hard freeze can split a pipe near a vent or an outside wall, and the leak often shows up only when it thaws. Insulate exposed lines and close the vents for winter.
The larger houses on Ridge Road
Pacific Mills built the Ridge Road houses for its executives from the same materials as the village homes, just in bigger plans. They share the same aging-pipe questions, with more fixtures, more bathrooms and longer runs of old supply and drain line to check.