Re piping house. Anyone had it done?

[Concrete Helmet]

Anyone had to have their house re piped before? Inspectors came today and looks like we have the dreaded polybutylene piping. Any ideas on what would be involved, cost, time or anything else I should know?

 

[CDGator]

Are you handy? BS aside. PEX it.

@Seedy just did PEX in the new bathroom renovation. He had to go through at least 7 floor joists. Much better than doing copper. Hope it’s reliable!

 

[CDGator]

Anyone had to have their house re piped before? Inspectors came today and looks like we have the dreaded polybutylene piping. Any ideas on what would be involved, cost, time or anything else I should know?

Ouch! That sucks.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Are you handy? BS aside. PEX it.

PEX seems to be the least expensive way....but no I'm good with digging/landscaping and as my Dad used to refer to it as " African Engineering"....I never understood what he meant by the phrase....

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Are you on a slab?

10-4

 

[Concrete Helmet]

****** rigging....

I'm pretty sure my Pops never called anyone a "vaxxer"....

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I would think about running PEX overhead and using your polybutylene piping as a snake.

Seems logical enough. The only problem would be the "island" sink in the kitchen. Of course the bigger problem will be the labor involved and the drywall work....great time to have 6 bathrooms

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Drywall work should be the cheapest expense. One guy on YouTube pulled 1/2 PEX thru his old lines, might work for your island sink.or else sounds like slab work.

Actually from what I can tell PB was NOT used in slab but mostly behind walls and across ceilings. I also just read our report and it shows both PVC and PB as plumbing materials but doesn't specify where or how much of either.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Should be easy to verify, look at the risers. If you aren't doing the work yourself then we are talking too much about it.

I meant in general PB wasn't used in slab. I'm talking about it to find out what it might cost and any tips, precautions and such from anyone who has had it done recently.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Probably the PVC was drain lines.

2 of the bathrooms have been remodeled in the last 5 or 6 years too.

 

[Alumni Guy]

I just want to say this is a proud moment for this board. There’s a thread about piping and there hasn’t been a single mom or wife joke.

We’ve become quite the sophisticated lot, haven’t we gents?

 

[AlexDaGator]

I just want to say this is a proud moment for this board. There’s a thread about piping and there hasn’t been a single mom or wife joke.

We’ve become quite the sophisticated lot, haven’t we gents?

I re-piped your Mom's back door last night. That thing was a mess. Had to shower afterwards.


Alex.

 

[Alumni Guy]

I re-piped your Mom's back door last night. That thing was a mess. Had to shower afterwards.


Alex.

She mentioned having some work done on her rear door. However she said that it was so small and unremarkable that she barely noticed the work.

 

[Nalt]

I replumbed a house several years ago and used cpvc. That was before pex or I would have used that. This house had a crawl space too. I wouldn't replumb a house on a slab. Probably just burn it down and collect the insurance $$ and start over...

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I replumbed a house several years ago and used cpvc. That was before pex or I would have used that. This house had a crawl space too. I wouldn't replumb a house on a slab. Probably just burn it down and collect the insurance $$ and start over...

You wouldn't have insurance if you had PB.....but I don't see dropping flexible piping downward being harder than sliding around on your back trying to push it upward. Most houses have been re piped this way for 30-40 years now.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Crete said his slab risers were PVC & CPVC. don't know

The ones in the kitchen island sink are copper and what I was referring to was the piping going thru the slab....they didn't run PB thru slab so the floor wouldn't have to be broken up.

 

[Seedy]

Pex can be problematic if you have mice, or so I've heard.

 

[NVGator]

@Concrete Helmet what year was your house built? I’m the resident expert with this.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

@Concrete Helmet what year was your house built? I’m the resident expert with this.

1993 but the good news is we got coverage anyway. I think the partial repipe we've had done with some of the renovation kinda made it ok....Somehow it worked out. Besides the PB usually is only at the connectors right?

 

[NVGator]

1993 but the good news is we got coverage anyway. I think the partial repipe we've had done with some of the renovation kinda made it ok....Somehow it worked out. Besides the PB usually is only at the connectors right?

Kitec was our issue. It’s in every home in our neighborhood. It’s not “if it fail” it’s “when will it fail”.

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