Sarasota homes 'replumbed' or 'repiped'? (Cape Coral: real estate market, house, to buy)

[Judith Signorello]

Hello everyone, So enjoy this Sarasota forum; it has been extremely helpful in helping me learn a little about the real estate market (locations, etc). I seem to be finding a lot of home listings that indicate home has been 'repiped' or 'replumbed'; some homes are only 10 years old. What would be the reason for this? Many thanks for your responses!

[kbuild]

The reason for this is, in the early 2000's and 90's the pipes where placed in the foundations. So, when A pipe breaks the new PVC is now ran through the attic and new piping through ou the house and walls. I hope this answers your question?

[Judith Signorello]

KBUILD,
Thanks much for your response. I guess I get it now. Apparently, pipes placed in foundations were not very successful!

[MrTudo]

We had our house done a few months ago. We were quoted $8,000.00 by a company that has a full page ad in the local yellow pages and that price did not even include patching the holes they would need to make and painting. I told the guy I'd let him know. The next morning he rang our doorbell and told me he "misquote" me. Yeah right. He told me it would be around $5,000.00 and that still did not include patching the holes and painting.

Feeling as though this was nothing more than a rip off I called a plumber, ( Pat the Plumber ) who referred us to Water Works Plumbing Corp in Cape Coral . Just copy and paste that into yahoo or google and you'll find them.

Water Works sent a guy the house a couple hours later who quoted me $2500.00 and that DID include patching the holes, re-knock down the texture and painting. They came a couple days later after I gave them the green light and it was all done in one day except for the finishing work. Great company, great bunch of people who did the work and as a matter of fact if and when the offer on the house we're trying to buy in Sarasota Cnty is approved, I'm having them come up and do some bathroom remodeling among other things as after that experience , well you can see why.

[kbuild]

Originally Posted by Judith Signorello

KBUILD,
Thanks much for your response. I guess I get it now. Apparently, pipes placed in foundations were not very successful!

Not, only was it unsucessful, but when you repipe the pipes cannot be placed back in the slab or foundation.

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by Judith Signorello

Hello everyone, So enjoy this Sarasota forum; it has been extremely helpful in helping me learn a little about the real estate market (locations, etc). I seem to be finding a lot of home listings that indicate home has been 'repiped' or 'replumbed'; some homes are only 10 years old. What would be the reason for this? Many thanks for your responses!

Running plumbing within the concrete foundation has always proven both efficient and lasting. I haven't heard anything about this anywhere but here. Our code says we must sleeve water lines that occur within concrete. I'll be watching this Thread to see if I read something more about this.

Do any of the previous Posters have any info on what exactly failed in the systems and cause? Thanks

[kbuild]

When a pipe bursts and it is in a concrete foundation then new PVC has to be plumbed out side of the foundation (no way to put pipes back in the foundation) Also in some older homes copper was King, but when installed in a concrete foundation on a bed of sand "shifting takes place" and the copper pipes will fail.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by kbuild

When a pipe bursts and it is in a concrete foundation then new PVC has to be plumbed out side of the foundation (no way to put pipes back in the foundation) Also in some older homes copper was King, but when installed in a concrete foundation on a bed of sand "shifting takes place" and the copper pipes will fail.

You are correct. All of the newer, better built homes use the manabloc (http://www.vanguard.ca/mbloctour2.html - broken link) system that is not under the slab. Like you said, if the plumbing is in the slab you have to tear the whole house apart.

This explains a little more about it:
Investigative Report of Copper Plumbing Failures Under Concrete Slabs

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

You are correct. All of the newer, better built homes use the manabloc (http://www.vanguard.ca/mbloctour2.html - broken link) system that is not under the slab. Like you said, if the plumbing is in the slab you have to tear the whole house apart.

This explains a little more about it:
Investigative Report of Copper Plumbing Failures Under Concrete Slabs

Thanks for the useful Post, especially the Investigative Report.

The report is outdated (1991) but has lost none of it's relevance. It appears that they have determined that we cannot do without the sleeves as some soil contain the chlorines sufficient to pit and pinhole the copper. This left the final recommendation to continue the use of the sleeves with extreme caution to avoid any and all water or soil introduction into the sleeve during construction.

It is common practice to fold the ends of the sleeves over the copper and tape or tie the fold. It is also elementary that the sleeve fold must be opened or cut back when it is time to make the sweat connection to the rest of the system.

This causes a new concern and one I have never thought of: How do you make the sweat connection to the copper without damaging the integrity of the sleeve, and how do you close the sleeve sufficiently after you make the connection? I have never seen any of the professionals do more than a quick tape closure at best.

The report shows that none of the damage occured because of the trauma of settling. Maybe we should be considering schedule 40 for all water supply?

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by kbuild

When a pipe bursts and it is in a concrete foundation then new PVC has to be plumbed out side of the foundation (no way to put pipes back in the foundation) Also in some older homes copper was King, but when installed in a concrete foundation on a bed of sand "shifting takes place" and the copper pipes will fail.

The Investigative Report supplied by SoFlGal indicates that there were no instances of the causation you mentioned. That report puts the blame squarely on copper/chlorine reaction from the outside in. The report indicated no bursting, instead they attributed the failure to corrosion and pinholes.

It sounds like you are in the biz, as am I, and I must admit that we have never taken the extraordinary efforts that the report suggests. How can any professional possibly provide that level of diligence?