Re-Plumbing Old Houses
Updated: Oct 10
Re-plumbing old houses. You just want the best solution. You want a water supply piping system that doesn’t corrode or develop pinhole leaks, is chlorine- and scale-resistant, and has fewer fittings, connections, and elbows than rigid plastic and metallic pipe. Think it’s impossible? We can make it simple for you with cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) for your water supply piping installation.
PEX is a high-temperature, flexible plastic (polymer) pipe. The cross-linking raises the thermal stability of the material under load. Thus, resistance to creep, slow crack growth, and environmental stress cracking is greatly improved over polyethylene.
PEX pipe is approved for potable hot- and cold-water plumbing systems and hot-water (hydronic) heating systems in all model plumbing and mechanical codes across the U.S. and Canada. PEX piping is durable, provides security for safe drinking water, and uses reliable connections and fittings. There are currently about 10 domestic producers of quality PEX piping. Want to know more? Call us.
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Why old Los Angeles houses reach this point
Two materials account for most repipes in this region, and they fail in different ways.
Galvanized steel.
Standard in houses built before the 1960s. It corrodes from the inside out, so the pipe looks fine and the opening inside it closes. The tells are brown water on first draw, pressure that has quietly dropped over years, and a shower that loses flow when somebody opens a tap.
Copper with pinhole leaks.
Newer, and failing differently. Pinholes appear in the same building in clusters, and repairing one is usually the start rather than the end. When a house produces its third pinhole in a year, that is the answer to whether a repipe is warranted.
Repair or repipe
The honest test is not how bad the current leak is. It is how many there have been.
One leak in an otherwise healthy system is a repair
Repeated leaks in the same material in different parts of the house is a system telling you something
Pressure loss that has developed slowly is almost never a single blockage
Any house still on galvanized supply is on borrowed time regardless of whether it is leaking today
The reason it matters is that a repipe done deliberately is a planned project with the walls opened where you choose. A repipe done reactively happens in an emergency, after water damage, with the walls opened where the pipe burst.
What the job actually involves
Opening access. This is most of the disruption, and where it is opened is a planning decision
Running the new supply, sized for the fixtures it serves
Connecting fixtures and the water heater
Pressure testing, which is inspected
Patching, texture and paint, which is the part people forget is in the scope
Permit and inspection, because this is permitted work
That fifth line is why a repipe belongs with a general building contractor rather than a plumber alone. Somebody has to close the walls back up and make them match, and on a lath and plaster house that is a real trade rather than an afterthought.
The point-of-sale angle
Supply piping shows up in every home inspection. Galvanized gets noted, pinhole repairs get noted, and both become negotiation items.
A documented repipe with a permit and a final inspection ends that conversation. It is also one of the few major systems a buyer can verify was done properly, which is worth more than the work costs at the point of sale.
Start with a free 15-minute call
Tell us roughly when the house was built, what the supply piping is if you know, how many leaks there have been and over what period, and whether the pressure has changed. In fifteen minutes we can usually tell you whether this is a repair or a system at the end of its life.
Call (323) 707-4979 to book the free 15-minute consultation.
The Ultimate Pro, Inc. CA License 831700, Class B General Building. Serving Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties since 1996.
Plumbing hidden behind a wall is the expensive kind to guess at. Book a free 15-minute call or call (323) 707-4979 and describe the symptom. We will tell you what usually causes it and what it takes to confirm.
There is usually a video for this. X Plan Nation is our construction channel on YouTube, run by the same team that would build your project and made to explain the trades to the person paying for them.
The Ultimate Pro, Inc. · California contractor license 831700 · Class B general building · 18481 Grand Avenue, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530 · Serving Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County and the Inland Empire since 1996.
A practical and approachable overview of a service many people overlook until they need it. The emphasis on reliability was https://nptica.com/ helpful. I remember a comparable local service feature on an -based review blog.
Thank you for this thorough guide on re-plumbing older homes. The step-by-step explanation was very clear and helpful, especially for anyone tackling vintage plumbing challenges. I recently came across a similar discussion on https://www.attn2detail.info/, which offered an interesting perspective on balancing efficiency and safety during home renovations. Your insights make tackling these projects much less intimidating.