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8 Signs Your Home Needs a Repipe

8 signs your home needs a repipe

The pipes in your home won’t last forever. Eventually, the pipes will begin to wear and potentially create leaks, bad tasting water, or other problems. Few homeowners can tell the difference between when they need a pipe repair and when they need to change the pipes in their whole home. If you need a repipe, frequent leaks and pipe repairs are just wasted money.  Here are eight signs your home needs a repipe.

1. Leaks

A single leak may not be the sign for a repipe, but if you have multiple leaks at once or several in quick succession, it’s a sign that your pipes are giving out overall. You’ll keep getting leaks as new parts of the lines give out until you do a repipe.

2. Rust and Corrosion

Even materials that are highly resistant to corrosion, such as stainless steel, will still succumb to corrosion and its byproduct, rust, over the long term. If you see a lot of rust on several of your pipes, they may all need to be replaced.

3. Water Pressure Problems

Corrosion affects the inside of the pipes as well as the outside of them. Rust inside the pipes and sediment build up from hard water can both reduce the pressure in your pipes. This happens very gradually, so you probably won’t notice a sudden drop. Instead, changing settings on your shower head won’t seem to do much, or you’ll feel like your shower head is much worse than it was only a few years ago.

4. Water Discoloration

Water may become discolored from the sediment build up inside of the pipes, and even from the rust inside of the pipes. While water discoloration may not be harmful (it all depends on the source of the contamination), it’s not pleasant to look at. Getting a full repipe can fix the problem and keep your water looking fresh.

5. Odd Water Taste and Smell

If your water doesn’t just look odd, but also tastes and smells odd, you have even more reason for concern. The taste and smell may result from old, worn-out pipes leaching into the water. Or, there could be another cause, like a long-standing leak, cross-contamination between supply lines, and more. You’ll need a plumber to know for sure.

6. Noise from the Pipes

Certain noises can mean that your pipes are giving out due to old age. It can be hard to know what any pipe noise means, and there are many other problems that might be the root cause of unusual plumbing noises. This is another symptom where your plumber will have to do some investigating into what needs to be done.

7. Water Fluctuates in Temperature

While fluctuating water temperature doesn’t usually mean that you have old pipes, it can. Your plumber will check the water heater first, but if it is fine, then the problem may be that very old pipes have jammed up the regulating valve that controls water temperature.

8. Unsafe Materials

If you still have old pipes made of unsafe materials, such as lead, you should get them replaced immediately.