Many houses built in the Irvine area were built prior to the 1990’s. As such, they were built using either galvanized pipe or soft copper tubing for the water supply lines. Both types of pipe are prone to corroding or rusting. The corrosion process will eventually lead to either partially blocked water lines, or leaking water lines. Both situations call for a professional to do a complete repiping job.
Corrosion in the water pipes can be both destructive and expensive when ignored. The cause of the corrosion has to do with the way that the chemicals used to treat water react with the water pipes themselves. Unfortunately, unless the water was run through a water softener right from the time the house was constructed, there is little the homeowner can do to avoid corrosion in either kind of pipe.
There are a few tell-tale signs that a repiping job may be called for. If the house has low water pressure, this may be due to the pipes being partially blocked by corrosion or rust. If the water temperature changes when someone flushes the toilet or turns on another tap, this may be due to low water pressure. If a wall or the slab under the house is wet, this may be a sign of a leaking pipe. If the water has a bad smell or tastes odd, there may be corrosive build up in the pipes.
If your home requires repiping, who do you call? While there are many qualified plumbers in the Irvine area, a plumber can cost up to twice as much as a repiping specialist. The plumber will replace only the piping; they don’t do wall repair, and will do only limited cleaning once they’re done. A repiping specialist has the people, know-how, and is both equipped and experienced in every phase of repiping. They will complete the repiping job, as well as any and all wall repairs, and completely clean up after they’re done.
Most repiping jobs can be done using one of two types of pipe. The first is hard copper piping, and the second uses PEX. PEX is a specialized type of plastic pipe that is flexible, requires fewer connections, and does not require soldering. PEX repiping jobs are usually less expensive than using hard copper pipe. Depending upon the size of the house, many PEX repiping jobs can be accomplished in a single day.
