One water supply at about 126 mg/L, landing in housing that ranges from nineteenth-century Unionville to last year's builds.
Free 10-minute test at your tap · systems from $2,195 installed · no contract, no rental
Hardness is dissolved calcium and magnesium. Past about 120 mg/L it starts quietly costing you — in scale, in soap, and in appliances that die early.
Published municipal averages. Actual hardness shifts by pressure zone and season — an on-site test is the only way to know yours.
That is the published municipal average. Yours moves with your pressure zone and the season, so the only number that decides anything is the one measured at your tap.
It is not dramatic and it is not an emergency. It is a slow efficiency loss on every heated surface in the building — the water heater first, because it runs hottest and you never see inside it.
Markham's variation is by building age, not by water. The supply is the same York Region lake transfer that reaches Vaughan and Richmond Hill, arriving around 126 mg/L, but the housing it lands in spans an unusually wide range — nineteenth-century stock in Unionville and old Thornhill, the vast post-war and 1980s subdivisions between them, and continuing new construction in Cornell and Box Grove.
That range is why the right answer here varies street to street rather than neighbourhood to neighbourhood. An older Markham home may carry decades of accumulated deposit in pipework laid long before anyone treated the water, where softening protects what remains rather than preventing anything. A recent build has an efficient boiler or a tankless unit with nothing in it yet, where the same 126 mg/L is a straightforward case of protecting expensive equipment from its first day.
Drinking water is worth raising separately in Markham, because a lot of households here want reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap for reasons that have nothing to do with hardness. If that is your actual priority, say so early — it is a different system at a different price, and it does not require softening the whole house to deliver.
A metered softener on the main, sized to your actual hardness rather than to a regional average, and a reverse-osmosis unit under the kitchen sink if you want drinking-grade water at the tap. Municipal supply arrives treated, so iron removal is not usually part of it.
L3P, L3R, L3S, L6B, L6C, L6E, L6G
Ion exchange, the whole-home schematic and the well-water treatment order are laid out in detail on the main page — the science is the same everywhere, only the numbers change.
Most homes need one of the first two. If you're on a well, you need the third and it needs a water sample before anyone can quote it honestly.
For municipal supply on lake water. Takes the calcium out before it reaches anything.
Softened water everywhere, plus reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap and the fridge line.
Caledon, King, Uxbridge, Halton Hills, north Durham. Quoted after a lab sample, never before.
Optional service plan from $14/month — annual filter changes, UV lamp replacement, yearly check. Cancel whenever. It isn't required to keep your warranty.
The national providers rent softeners at $30–$48 a month with no end date. Move the sliders and find the month where renting overtakes simply buying the thing.
Rental range reflects published 2026 GTA rates. Purchase range reflects installed market pricing. Salt and servicing excluded — you pay those either way.
| Outright | Typical rental | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the equipment | You do, on day one | They do, permanently |
| Contract length | None | Commonly 5–10 years |
| Cost after year ten | No monthly fee | Still $30–$48 every month |
| Repairs and service | 10-year parts typical. Service calls flat-rate after that. | Included — for as long as you keep paying. |
| Cancelling early | Nothing to cancel | Buyout terms apply |
| When you sell the house | Transfers with the home | Buyer assumes it, or you settle |
| Registration against title | Never | Banned in Ontario since 2024 |
| How you get a price | It's on this page | In-home appointment |
Pick a window. We confirm by text, not from a call centre.
Hardness, iron and pH, measured on site in about ten minutes.
Usually about three hours. Drain, bypass and removal of your old unit if you own it. If you rent yours we don’t touch it — it belongs to the rental company, and equipment that goes missing gets billed to you. You arrange collection with them.
Paid once. Stays with the house when you sell it.
Markham water measures about 126 mg/L, which is 7.4 grains per gallon — classified hard. Supply: York Water System — Lake Ontario, supplied via Peel Region and the City of Toronto. Figures from York Region drinking water quality monitoring, Q2 2026 averages. Actual hardness varies by pressure zone and season, so an on-site test is the only way to know yours exactly.
At 126 mg/L it is a judgement call rather than an emergency. The clearest case is a home with a modern high-efficiency or tankless water heater, which has tighter passages and far less tolerance for scale than the tanks they replaced.
from $2,195 installed, or from $3,290 with reverse osmosis drinking water at the kitchen tap. These are starting prices — the final figure depends on the equipment and the install, and you get it in writing before any work begins. No in-home quote required to see a number.
You own it outright from the day it is installed. There is no monthly rental, no contract term, and nothing registered against your home. It transfers with the house when you sell.
Ten minutes at your tap. Hardness, iron and pH measured on the spot, a straight answer, and a price you already saw on this page.
No obligation, no sales pitch, and nobody stays for coffee.
We'll text you within one business day to confirm a window. Nothing is booked until you reply.