This forum has been such a tremendous help to me. Thanks everyone.

When we purchased our home, built in 1933, we knew that the house was full of galvanized steel pipes and had budgeted for their replacement. We have been in the house new for about 4 months and have had no significant problems with the pipes. That is to say, no leaks. Water pressure is OK, but when more than one device is running, you really feel it.

Does it make sense to repipe? Do most people wait until something bad happens? I have read that the life expectancy of galvanized steel pipes is about 75 years and we are right at that point. Any thoughts?

We have a great plumber that has managed to resolve many of our plumbing problems. He has given us a quote of $4,000 to repipe the whole house, which is by far the lowest quote. Again, he has done great work for us in the past, but he is coming in about $2,000 less than many of the bigger companies. Are there any questions I should ask him? He is using copper and plans to leave the old pipes up in the walls, which seems to be what everyone else is doing.

What is the process for repiping? We effectively have three levels, a finished basement with a full bath, kitchenette and laundry room(all plumbed in copper) and where our hot water heater is, the main level of the home where the kitchen is and then a full bath upstairs. In the basement, the pipes run through the ceiling, as opposed to through or under the concrete slab. The main floor kitchen is right above the basement bathroom and has a short run of galvanized from the bathroom up to the kitchen. The second floor kitchen is basically above the hot water heater and it seems as though the pipes run up through the walls and then under the bathroom floor. We aren't ready to renovate the bathroom yet(although we will be doing so in the next couple of years), so we'd prefer not to demo the floors. Would the pipes just be run up into the attic? How much damage is normally done to the walls? Big holes, little holes, lots of holes, one long trench?

Any thoughts, suggestions, advice, help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

If you have been happy with this plumber in the past and he is the low bidder there isn't much to think about. None of your bids probably include repairing the drywall which will have some extensive patching. 3 levels means a great deal of ceilings will have to be opened as well as some walls. The patching can easily add another $2k to your project unless you want us to try and walk you through a DIY project.

You're right, none of the bids include drywall, but I am actually pretty good at it, so I am not too worried about that aspect of things.

Can you give me a feel for just how much damage will be done? Big holes? Lots of holes? Trenches? Guess I am just curious if we are looking at lots of little patches or replaces whole big sections of wall and ceiling? Much of the affected area is actually plaster and wood lath.

Should there be any need to tear up the bathroom floor or should he be able to work around it?

Does it make sense to do this now? Should I wait a year or two and do it when we redo the bathroom? At that time we will also be constructing an addition to the home to include a half bath and laundry room on the main level and an additional full bathroom on the upper level? That being said, actually, if we move forward with the repipe now, could the plumber get things ready for the addition?

Any thoughts? And again, thanks!

I'd have to see your home to give you more specific advice but there will be little floor damage and lots of wall repair, trenching only if the supply is below your basement floor. The fact that you have plaster rather than drywall just made things a bit more difficult. Drywall is easier to patch than lath. If you wait for the addition you might get a better deal but your current bid is pretty cheap so why wait. This type of work could cause your home to be inliveable for a few days.

He is using copper and plans to leave the old pipes up in the walls, which seems to be what everyone else is doing. Copper's fine but plastic, Pex or CPVC will out last it. When we re pipe a house here in Florida we run our mains around the outside of the house and supply all the fixtures on outside wall from the two mains. For fixtures on a inside wall we tee off from the mains up to the attic where we drop supplies down inside the walls to supply those fixtures. We leave the old piping in place. If it's a big job that willtake more then one day we water pipe the kitchen and a bathroom first and cap the rest off overnight. That way at least you can function until we return the next day. Good luck, Tom

Tom-

Thanks for the insight. I don't believe the mains can be run outside here for two reasons, 1) weather, it gets awfully cold in DC and 2) we live in a connected rowhouse, so only two of the four walls are actually exterior.

I'd love to do PEX, but I cannot find a single contractor in DC who works with it. It isn't against code, they just like copper here.

Our guy is estimating it will take him 5 days to complete the job? Does this sound crazy? He indicated we'll have access to water at the end of each day.

Again, anything I should be asking this guy? I like him and trust him, but this is a big job and I just want to make sure it is done right. Also, I'd like to guide him towards the less destructive path, rather than the easiest path, as I will be stuck with all the wall repair afterwards.

If your good at fishing, you might be able to work a deal that you could fish PEX to a central distribution point and have the plumber make the final connections.

Problems really rear their ugly head when distribution must go perpendicular to joints.

There are water distribution systems that use only one supply line to each area. The water is mixed independently at a central location and delivered to the fixture.

You might invest in a consumer grade boroscope to look through walls using a fiber optic camera.

There is nothing wrong with a combination of systems either. Just have a plan in all cases.

Also weigh the gravity recirculating loop to avoid wasteing water. The central one tube per fixture system solves that problem.