Re-pipe entire house?

[dad911]

Have your water tested. If it is corroding pinhole leaks from the inside, it is something in the water. It may be as simple as adding a softener or some water conditioning to stop the problem.

[TerryH]

When we bought our home back in '82, it had galvanized piping that had been installed when the house was new 1947. As one can imagine, the flow was reduced to about 25% after 35 years. We went with copper repipe in '85 and at the time it was less than $1250 for everything right to the meter. They punched holes in our walls behind the shower valving and patched them leaving us to repaint.

I was completely happy when it was done and it took only one day with 4 guys. Twenty years later and we still have so much pressure it feels like a plasma cutter when the shower is turned on most of the way. We can shower, wash clothes and dishes, and not be affected by a substantial pressure drop.

We are not on a slab, so there is plenty of pipe running under the house in the crawl space. On a slab, wouldn't they run plumbing in the attic if they were to replace everything?

[defcon65]

Where is your water meter? Why not just abandon all the pipe under the slab and retrofit new copper? Anybody that can work on Porsches should be able to solder copper pipe, and it's not that expensive at your Home Depot or whatever. $7000 to coat pipes with some epoxy goo sounds way too expensive for a three-bedroom, two bath slab house. You can install new 1/2" copper in the walls by removing the baseboards, cutting back the drywall, notching out the studs at the bottom and placing the new lines 1" apart in nail-in pipe clamps. (I'm assuming your house has wood studs) Be sure to install steel stud-guards over the notches so they don't get hit with nails when you re-attach the baseboards.
I'm not a huge fan of plastic water pipes, but most of the installed examples I've seen have been botched home-owner jobs. I'm sure it works fine if installed correctly, it's just that none of the plumbers I hire even touch the stuff.
That's my take on it; others may feel different. I've rehabbed close to three hundred houses in Western Illinois and never pay more than about $1500 for a complete copper repiping. All the parts and supplies for a house like you describe should cost less than $300, including solder, flux, cleaning tools, a pipe cutter and MAPP torch kit.
The key to successful pipe-sweating is to clean the mating surfaces very shiny, use plenty of flux and heat them till they glow dark red or the flame turns greenish, then feed the solder in all the way around the joint and wipe the drip with a denim rag.
Try it, you'll feel like a pro!

Good Luck,

Joe

[defcon65]

Edit: The pipes don't actually 'glow', but rather the surface turns from shiny copper to a dark red. The green flame is a good sign it's hot enough to sweat in the solder. It's easy to do and I actually find it somewhat enjoyable and satisfying.

[930addict]

Originally posted by sammyg2
I just found a hot water pipe leak under the slab of my house. It's the third leak in two years. I fixed the other two myself but I'm getting tired of that.
I figure it's time to bite the bullet and either re-pipe the house or go with one of those systems that coats all the existing pipes with epoxy (no holes in walls).

Any experiences?
House is 3 bedroom 2 bath and was built in 1969. Any guesses what the cost will be?
Tanks.

It was $6k to repipe our house with copper - 3bedroom/2bathroom built in 1960.

[ZOA NOM]

I did the work myself (sweating copper is a PITA, but not rocket science) during a remodel, and had the inspectors sign it off before the drywall went up. Total cost was under $500, mostly due to the layout. Two bathrooms and the kitchen share two walls, so I only need to run the two 3/4" trunks into the attic from the garage, and then run the 1/2" feeders down the walls to the showers, sinks, etc.