Repiping a Jacksonville house: polybutylene, galvanized, cast iron

A repipe replaces the water supply lines in a house, and sometimes the drain lines, instead of repairing them one leak at a time. On the First Coast the reasons follow the neighborhoods: polybutylene supply lines in the houses built from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s (Mandarin, the Southside and Baymeadows, Orange Park, Argyle, Julington Creek's first phases), galvanized steel in the houses from before the 1960s (Riverside, Avondale, Springfield, Murray Hill, San Marco), copper that has pinholed under the slab more than once (Arlington, the Beaches), and cast iron drains from the same eras whose bottoms have rotted out.

When you call, say when the house was built and what the pipe is if you know it (grey plastic with copper or plastic fittings is polybutylene; grey metal that rusts at the threads is galvanized), and what prompted the question: a leak, an insurance inspection, a sale.

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Why the insurer asks

Citizens Property Insurance requires a four-point inspection (electrical, heating, plumbing, roof) dated within 12 months for any home over 20 years old. Plumbing material and age are a line on it.

• Polybutylene: Citizens' published rule is that only dwellings 20 years old or newer with polybutylene can be eligible, and only with no signs of leaks, unrepaired water damage, disrepair, or hazards. Polybutylene went out of use around 1995, so a house that has it is older than 20 years by now; in practice the path to a Citizens policy is a repipe. Private insurers set their own rules and many follow the same line.
• Galvanized supply: not an automatic decline, but an inspector notes it and an underwriter may ask for a replacement plan. Low pressure at the taps and rust-colored water first thing in the morning are the symptoms.
• Cast iron drains: the four-point asks about drain material too. A camera report showing channeling or a break is what turns the question into a repipe of the drains.
• Your underwriter decides eligibility, not the contractor and not this site. What the contractor provides is the repipe, the permit, and the final inspection record that the insurer wants to see.

What replaces it

Two materials for supply lines, one common way to do drains.

• PEX: flexible plastic tubing pulled through walls and attics with far fewer fittings than copper, which is why most First Coast repipes use it. It does not corrode on chlorinated water and it tolerates the attic. Fittings and manifolds are where the quality of the job lives.
• Copper: rigid, proven, more labor. On this water a contractor should say plainly that copper under a slab is the pipe that pinholed in the first place.
• Drains: cast iron under a slab is usually replaced by opening the slab along the run, or, where the pipe is intact enough, lined from the inside. Above-ground cast iron and galvanized drains are replaced with PVC. The camera decides which.
• A supply repipe in a one-story slab house typically runs overhead: up from the water heater, through the attic, down to each fixture. Drywall is opened at each drop and patched; ask whether the patching and texture are in the quote or excluded.

Permit, notice, and inspection

A repipe is a permitted plumbing job everywhere on the First Coast, inspected with the pipes open and at final. A direct contract over $5,000 needs a Notice of Commencement recorded before the first inspection; the contractor usually prepares it and you sign it. Ask for the permit number and keep the final inspection record with the house papers; it is what the next insurer or buyer will ask for.

Ask how many days the water will be off (usually part of one day for the supply cutover), how the walls will be closed, and what the warranty on the pipe and the labor is, in writing.