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If you’ve worked as a plumber for any number of years, you’ve likely already seen your fair share of disasters. Heck, we have three whole galleries full of disasters left by other plumbers alone; we can only imagine some of the customer-made disasters… but what about an old home with plumbing and piping nearing its end days?
On the Arizona Daily Star’s website, Rosie Romero, host of Saturday Morning Rosie on the House, answered some questions from readers and listeners to her show. One question was from a family who has lived in a home, built in 1953, for 15 years.
Q: […] I’m beginning to wonder if my aging water lines are ready to break. Should I have the pipes replaced before it happens? There are five of us living here in the house and it would be a major problem if we had to do without water for an extended period of time.
A: Your home is getting close to the time when you might have a break. You probably have galvanized lines that are getting pretty rusty and corroded. If you’re worried about it, you can have a qualified plumber come in and do a pressure test on your plumbing or dig down in your yard to do a visual inspection of part of the line to see what’s going on. You should, of course, assess the actual need for a full repipe before launching into this repair job.
What would you suggest to a customer in this scenario? As a contractor, how do you deal with old plumbing? Let us know. We’d love to hear your stories.