How to Tell When Your Older Home Needs a Repipe
If your home was built before the 1970s and still has its original water lines, there’s a good chance those pipes are near the end of their life. The clearest signs are falling water pressure, brown or rusty water, and leaks that keep coming back. One of those on its own may be a simple repair. Two or more usually means the system is wearing out as a whole.
We see this every week in Rossmoor, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and east Long Beach, where most homes went up in the 1950s and 1960s. Here’s how to tell what you have and when it’s time to replace it.
Start by Finding Out What Pipe You Have
Look at the pipes coming out of the wall under a sink, at the water heater, and where the main line enters the house. Most homes in our area have one of four materials.
Galvanized steel is gray, has threaded joints, and a magnet will stick to it. The East Bay Municipal Utility District notes that galvanized pipe was common before the 1960s and suggests the magnet test as an easy way to identify it. If you scratch it with a key, it stays dull gray.
Copper is orange-brown or green with age, and the joints are soldered. Copper is still a good material, but older copper can thin out and develop pinhole leaks.
PEX is flexible plastic, usually red, blue or white. If you see PEX, your home has likely been repiped already.
Polybutylene is a gray plastic pipe that was installed in millions of homes from 1978 to 1995 before widespread failures led to a class action settlement that topped $1 billion. It still turns up in some condos and many mobile homes.
The Warning Signs
Water Pressure Keeps Dropping
Galvanized pipe rusts from the inside. As the rust builds up, the opening narrows and less water gets through. If cleaning the showerhead and faucet aerators doesn’t bring your pressure back, the pipes are the likely cause.
Brown or Rusty Water
Discolored water first thing in the morning, or after you’ve been away, is a classic sign of corroding galvanized pipe. It may clear after a minute, but the rust stays in the line.
Repeat Pinhole Leaks
A single pinhole leak in copper is usually an easy fix. Two or three in a few years means the copper is wearing thin throughout the house. Patching one spot just moves the next leak somewhere else.
A Slab Leak
Water lines under the slab are the hardest to reach. If you’ve already had one slab leak, rerouting the lines through the walls and attic often costs less over time than breaking up floors each time another section fails.
Short Water Heater Life
Rust and scale from old pipes settle in the bottom of the water heater. If you’ve replaced your heater sooner than expected, or it rumbles and runs out of hot water early, the pipes may be part of the problem.
Repair or Repipe
Not every old pipe needs to go. If your home has copper in good shape and one leak, we’ll fix the leak. A repipe makes sense when the pipe is galvanized or polybutylene, when you’ve had several leaks, when pressure and water quality are both slipping, or when you’re remodeling anyway and the walls are already open.
PEX or Copper
Both are good choices. PEX costs less, needs fewer fittings, resists scale and corrosion, and can be routed through walls with smaller openings, which is why it’s become the most common choice for repipes. Copper costs more but has a long track record and some homeowners prefer it. We’ll walk you through both and give you a price for each.
What a Repipe Involves
Most homes are repiped in one to three days. We protect floors and furniture, open small sections of drywall to run the new lines, connect every fixture, pressure-test the system and patch the openings when we’re done. In most cases you’ll have water back each evening. Learn more about our repiping services.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do galvanized pipes last?
Will a repipe raise my home's value?
Do I need to move out during a repipe?
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