When repiping is the right call
- Rusty or brown water, especially first thing in the morning
- Pressure that dropped gradually over years as pipe interiors narrowed
- Repeated pinhole leaks — the second and third are telling you about the rest of the system
- Visible corrosion on exposed pipe in the garage or crawlspace
- Original galvanized steel, common in East Bay homes built before roughly 1970
Why galvanized fails
Galvanized steel pipe corrodes from the inside out. The interior scales and narrows, which is what kills your pressure, and the corrosion is what discolors the water. A lot of East Bay housing stock went up in the 1940s through 1960s with galvanized supply lines that are now well past their intended service life.
You can't fix that by replacing a section. The rest of the run is in the same condition.
What we install
Copper and PEX both make sense depending on the house, the routing, and what you want. We'll explain the tradeoffs for your specific situation rather than pushing one because it's easier for us. What matters more than the material debate is that it's installed correctly, supported properly, and inspected.
What the job actually looks like
A repipe means opening access points in walls and ceilings to run new lines, then closing them back up. It's disruptive — we won't pretend otherwise — but it's usually measured in days rather than weeks, and we work to keep water on overnight where the layout allows.
Before we start you'll have a written scope covering which lines are being replaced, where access will be opened, the expected duration, and the price. Repiping is permitted, inspected work.
Partial repipes
Sometimes the answer isn't the whole house. If the original galvanized was partially replaced during a past remodel, or one branch is failing while the rest is sound, a targeted repipe of the bad section is the honest recommendation. We'll tell you when that's the case.
Warranty
Repiping carries our full five-year workmanship warranty.