Stubits
Sep 15, 2008, 07:03 AM
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!
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!