Plumbing: i will hide my sins with silicone sealant

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Plumbing: i will hide my sins with silicone sealant

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

So my house has polybutylene pipes. I've looked into getting them replaced, but all three plumbers told me, "I'd have to tear your house apart to replace them. Wait for a leak then call us." Does this sound right? I've heard terrible things about these kind of pipes so I'm scared.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 00:18

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:24

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

Nitrox posted:

What sort of advice are you expecting to hear?

Just more input. I have information telling me to change the pipes immediately and I have people telling me to leave them. I know little about plumbing so I'm checking around to learn what's up. I'm sorry if I've stepped on some toes.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 04:59

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

wesleywillis posted:

Is Polybutylene the same as Kitec?

Cause if so waiting till it "leaks" is going to be disastrous.

Repiping with Pex (Kitec is a type of pex, but a bad one) shouldn't necessarily require tearing the house apart if done by skilled professionals.
If you want to repipe with copper, then yeah maybe they do have to tear da club up ('97).

Looks like they are different products, but share a similar problem. I'm all for changing the pipes, I was just confused at the plumbers telling me to wait for a leak.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 05:13

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

Motronic posted:

If they're telling you to wait for a leak they probably don't want your business/don't do that kind of complete reno re-pipe. I'm going to guess it would be a massive PITA in your house, involving a lot of drywall cutting which a typical customer is going to want patched and painted and they don't do that poo poo.

Just guessing here from context. Everthing about this depends on where you are and what youre house looks like and how it's constructed. There can be many reasons for this.

If it's a ranch home and every pipe ends up going into an unfinished basement or crawlspace they might just be correct. But I doubt it because they could charge you to repipe a place like that in an afternoon.

1,900 square foot home. Two story. The two bathrooms are stacked straight on top of each other and there is a line to the kitchen. Pipes go to a crawlspace under the house.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 05:27

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

Azza Bamboo posted:

If the PB splits, it'll tear out the ceilings for you. Then you don't have to pay a plumber to make those holes.

That is pretty much what the plumbers said. "We have to rip out the walls regardless, so wait until a break damages them."

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 13:18

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

PainterofCrap posted:

I think you'll find the reason for such a pithy response (by the plumber) to your serious concern has to do with anyone writing an estimate is not going to be able to do so without x-ray vision, they will have to make educated guesses about where your lines run, and if yours is a home with bathrooms/wet rooms on multiple levels it can get tricky. They may get into the job and find for example, that they'll have to tear your kitchen apart or otherwise render your home uninhabitable for a spell.

In short it can take a considerable amount of effort just to produce anything close to a reasonable estimate (hours that they shouldn't be billing you for towards a job they may not get) and if they guess wrong, the customer will probably be unhappy about the sudden ballooning of the estimate and/or have to leave their house for a week.

As someone who has been in that situation (trying to write a repair estimate when a lot of the potential scope is hidden) I tend to err on the side of caution, which means estimating to open walls & ceilings in (what may turn out to be) unnecessarily wide swaths to try & capture the runs/mechanicals/other possibly wet areas that need to be addressed or temporarily removed to make repairs.

Keep in mind that a plumber probably won't put back the walls, paint, wallpaper, tiles etc, you have to hire someone else for that.

So most jobbers want to avoid getting into those situations. It will be expensive unless you do it yourselves.

That's going to cost a ton. Working in crawlspaces sucks even with PEX. They'll be tearing up the lower bathroom & kitchen.

If the pipe leaks and causes damage, that's a covered loss for the water damage, and access to repair the leak (but not to actually repair it).

The downsides to this:

- insurance won't pay to re-plumb your house

- your insurer will be overjoyed to find that you have polybutylene pipe in your house, and will express that joy with either a hefty premium increase or a threat to cancel unless you replace it all.

Ok thank you. So please forgive my ignorance, but it sounds like you might agree with the other plumbers recommendation? It's going to be a gigantic expensive job so just wait until I have to replace the drywall anyway to get it done? Or am I misunderstanding and should just bite the bullet and get it fixed?

I'm sorry, I have a lot going on right now so I'm not thinking clearly.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 17:06

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:24

Travic: May 27, 2007; Getting nowhere fast

Ok. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll get things in motion.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 21:57

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