Hire a Repipe Pro for your Home Repiping project

Repiping your home is a job that belongs to a repipe expert and not a regular plumber.  This repiping task is a niche in the plumbing industry and a fairly new niche that has been created in the late 1980's.  A regular plumber would not complete your repipe in a timely manner and will not patch your walls back to seamless perfection at a cost effective price.  The regular plumber is not buying his repipe materials at a bulk quantity to pass the discount to you.  The regular plumber is not trained to repipe houses only, he does it all from cleaning your drains to fixing toilets and everything including the kitchen sink.  Compare this scenario to the physician that is a general practice doctor compared to a heart surgeon that only works on hearts.  The repipe expert is must be fully screened to verify that you get the best possible job at the best possible price.

The repipe expert has a glossy folder that with represent his company and he will charge for his glossy folder a large premium for the credentials and references that he acquired over the years in his glossy folder.  The repipe expert should NOT charge you anything for the glossy folder.  The glossy folder with the company profile should be only a prerequisite for him to provide you an estimate and not a determination on how you should decide to go with him upon his high-pressure tactics.  Please perform your due diligence and make sure that the contractors license, workers compensation, and general liability ($1 million) are in good standing.  Make sure to check at least 10 previous clients in your general area that have used his service and are satisfied.  Make sure that the repipe expert will pull permits, call for city inspection, patch your walls to paint ready condition and provide a 100% lifetime warranty on the work because that is the repipe industry standard.  The most important factors is to always demand to pay for your job upon 100% completion, avoid paying a single dime until the job is completed and you are 100% satisfied with the entire job from the water pressure condition, wall patching quality, and a final city inspection sign-off. 

The repipe expert should give you two choices of materials to use for repiping your home.  Copper is the oldest and most popular material known in the repiping industry.  PEX is a modern alternative to copper and not as known in the repiping industry.  Copper comes in three grades, Type M, Type L, and Type K (MLK-Martin Luther King).  Make sure that the pipe is USA made and it says it on the actual pipe "MADE IN USA".  There is also soft and hard copper-make sure that only hard copper is installed.  Type L is the most popular for a single-family dwelling application and will last between 40-50 years if installed properly with the proper water quality running through the copper pipes.   All three grades of copper are the same chemical composition, however, the wall thickness of the pipe is the difference.  Type M is a very thin wall pipe and tract homebuilders use this to save money on the materials.  Type L is perfect for a repiping application for a home given the water quality is good with no reaction between the copper and the water components.  Type K is a very thick wall copper pipe that can with stand aggressive water and aggressive soil conditions.  Copper is an expensive pipe because it is tied to the commodity exchange and the price is determined by supply and demand.  The price is very unstable and very hard to predict what will the price be for your repipe because you are the consumer of the material and the repipe expert will provide an estimate according to the price he paid for the commodity at the time he purchased his warehouse stock.

The other material that the repipe expert should educate you on is PEX piping.  PEX stands for polyethylene cross-linked to make PE (polyethylene) X (cross linked).  PEX has three different types, PEX-a, PEX-b, and PEX-c.  PEX-a is the Engel method and is the most widely used in the world with thirteen billion feet in service.  PEX-a is the most flexible, least likely to kink, has thermal memory, highest degree of cross linking and the best track record for 40 years worldwide.  PEX-b is the Silane method that does not have a high thermal memory or a high percentage of cross-linking.  PEX-c is the radiation method is a stiff PEX pipe with a low percentage of cross-linking.  PEX-a is an American product made by Uponor in Apple Valley, Minnesota with a 25-year warranty.  Uponor PEX is 8 times quieter than copper, 100% price stable, and retains the heat within the pipe, will not freeze, good for earthquakes, 100% non-toxic, reacts very well to aggressive water or highly chlorinated water, 100% leak-free.  This product requires no torches, solvents, glues, nor chemicals with fewer joints than copper due to its flexibility for a 100% leak-free system that will last at least 50 years. 

A repipe expert shall provide a flat rate price for repiping your home with PEX-a due to the price stability of the product.  The repipe expert will be able to repipe your home quicker with PEX as than copper.  All 49 US States allowed the use of PEX pipe for over 30 years; however, California had a long battle with the copper unions to pass legislation 2009.  PEX is going to surpass copper in repiping projects by 2020.   PEX's life expectancy will outlast copper because PEX reacts very well to harsh water, temperature conditions, and price stability.    

Daniel Zilberberg of REPIPE 1, Inc, wrote this article.