Call An Expert For Whole House Repiping

Whole house repiping is one of the biggest residential plumbing projects that homeowners face.  Most homeowners will never need a whole house repiping, but homes that were built with polybutylene pipes or have other plumbing issues may need to have all of their plumbing pipes replaced.  If you are one of the unfortunate homeowners facing a whole house repiping project, in most cases your best option is to have the job completed by a plumbing contractor who specializes in whole house repiping.

Millions of homes built during the from about 1975 to 1995 were plumbed with polybutylene piping.  At the time, polybutylene was believed to be an excellent choice for residential plumbing because it was easy to work with, relatively inexpensive, and seemed to be very durable.  Unfortunately it was later discovered that the chlorine found in most household drinking water caused polybutylene pipe to fail after a few years.

Replacing all of the defective pipe in your home is a big job that can require knocking holes into walls, floors, and ceilings.  The original piping may have been installed in the attic, under floors, and inside walls.  If your home was built on a slab, your plumbing probably runs under the slab and is routed up through the slab in various locations.

Most good plumbers can tackle a polybutylene pipe replacement, but it takes some experience to be able to replace all of the plumbing in a home with the least amount of damage to your walls, floors, and ceiling.   A plumber who specializes in whole house repiping will have years of repiping experience and will have developed techniques to get the job done as quickly as possible with the least amount of damage to your home.

Fixing Leaky Qest Plumbing

If you are experiencing problems with leaky Qest (often called Quest) plumbing in your home, you should consult with a plumbing contractor with experience in polybutylene pipe replacement before spending any money repairing your old Qest pipe.  Qest was a brand name for a type of polybutylene pipe that was taken off the market in the mid 1990’s.  Until then it was used in millions of American homes and manufactured homes for the hot and cold water lines and the water supply line from the meter to the home.

Qest hot and cold polybutylene pipes are usually grey although you may find some silver or black polybutylene pipes.  The water supply line is usually blue but can be gray or black.  If you suspect that you have Qest or any other type of polybutylene pipe, have it inspected by a professional plumber.  It is easy for a homeowner to confuse defective polybutylene pipe with modern PEX pipe.

Polybutylene pipe is no longer on the market because it tended to fail at a very high rate.  Early failures were experienced at the fittings, but later the pipes themselves began to fail.  It was discovered that chlorine in the water reacted with the pipe and caused it to break down.

Several class action lawsuits over the defective pipes were settled years ago.  Unfortunately, if you have not already filed a claim it is probably too late to join the settlement.

Repairing polybutylene pipe is a short term solution because it will soon fail again.  The only permanent solution is to have all of the piping replaced by a plumbing contractor that specializes in residential repiping.  Most plumbers can probably handle the job, but a specialist will have learned techniques for replacing the pipes with minimal damage to your home.