How to know if you really need to replace your plumbing

Time goes by and you normally tend to make changes to your home, but most people usually don’t consider replacing plumbing and deteriorating pipes.  Have you consider it? well you should do it before any future remodeling or home renovation. Replacing old pipes in a 1,500 square foot, two-bathroom home may cost between $4,000 to $10,000, and it requires cutting open walls and floors, so you certainly don’t want to do the job before it’s necessary but you should definitely consider before spending money on a big renovation. 

When you own an older house sometimes you may ask yourself… is a plumbing disaster about to happen or it is just a concern for the distant future?

Over the years the tubing gradually corrodes, rusts, and decays. Unless you replace your home’s plumbing, you’re eventually going to get leaks—and possibly a flood of water or raw sewage into your home that will cause thousands of dollars in damage to your building and belongings.

Here’s how to calculate the grade of your plumbing system and know when it’s time for replacement.

Recognizing your Pipes

• Review the home inspection report you got when you bought your home to see what kind of pipes you have.

• Bring in a trusted plumber to do an inspection of your plumbing system.

• Identify the type of plumbing in your house, to know for how long you can expect it to last.

• Check your pipes regularly. 

Removing lead and polybutylene

• Lead pipes, used in the early 1900s, have a life expectancy of 100 years, but they can leach lead into your drinking water, a serious health hazard.

• Polybutylene pipes, used from the 1970s through the 1990s, are extremely prone to breakage.

• There are two other types of water supply pipe that should be removed immediately no matter how old they are.

Look for signs of trouble

• Make it an annual ritual to look for any exposed pipe, in basements, crawlspaces, and utility rooms—for significant signs of trouble.

• Check the tubing for discoloration, stains, dimpling, pimples, or flaking, which are all indications of corrosion.

• Keep a watch for leaks too, of course. Even small ones that are easily repaired may be indicators that the time for whole-house replacement is approaching.

• If you’ve got sporadic leaks in some places, they’ll start showing up throughout your system soon, if this is the case It’s time to change your water.

• When you fill your bathtub, look at the color of your water—especially after a vacation when it has been sitting in the pipes for a while. If the water looks brown or yellow, what you’re seeing is rust, a sign of decay inside the pipes. consider replacement soon.

Do you know when is the best time to replace PIPES? 
Our best advice is to rely on a trusted plumber, whether it’s time for a pipe replacement or evaluation. There are also few ways you can mitigate the cost and hassle of the job, by following: 

• Replace what’s exposed, for a home with plaster walls, wood paneling, or other features that make it difficult to gain access to in-wall pipes, consider at least replacing pipes that aren’t buried in the walls.

• The plumber may be able to access the clear majority of your system this way. For a 1,500 square-foot, two-bathroom home, you may pay between $2,000 and $6,000 or more to replace just the exposed plumbing.

• Replace when you renovate. Whenever you remodel a portion of your house, take the opportunity to inspect—and if necessary, replace—any plumbing lines that you expose when you open up the walls and floors.

• Include not only the plumbing in the kitchen or bathroom that you’re remaking, but also any pipes passing through the walls to feed upstairs bathrooms.

PEX Limits Demolition

• If you have inside-the-wall supply pipes that require replacement, your plumber may be able to limit the wall demolition he needs to do by using an alternative piping product: Cross-linked polyethylene tubing, also known as PEX, is a flexible plastic hose.

• It can often be snaked into walls in much the way electricians feed their wires behind the wallboard or plaster with relatively minimal surgery, not an option with rigid copper pipe.

•  PEX meets building code nearly everywhere, comes with a 25-year warranty, and puts a smaller hit on your budget than copper. Replacing all the plumbing in a 1,500-square foot, two-bathroom home with copper piping may cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

• Using PEX would cost around $4,000 to $6,000, according to Gove. That’s because of lower material and labor costs. “If it takes you two days to re-plumb a house with copper, you can do that same house in a day with PEX.” 

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing has a team  of highly skilled plumbers who are professionally trained and have the skills, tools and experience to do the work needed and exceed your expectations. For your Treasure Coast and North Palm Beach emergency plumbing needs contact our emergency plumbers, at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.

We are available 24 hours, 7 days a week to solve all your plumbing issues at your convenience. you can also visit us online at: www.benfranklinplumber.com for all your plumbing needs.

References
Bousquin, J. (2017, March 18). Do You Need to Replace Your Plumbing? Retrieved from House Logic: https://www.houselogic.com/organize-maintain/home-maintenance-tips/do-you-need-replace-your-plumbing/